‘Vladimir Putin has blood on his hands’, Liz Truss will say in blistering UN address

Vladimir Putin has ‘blood on his hands’, Liz Truss will say today at a UN summit, while Boris Johnson will visit British troops defending Nato’s eastern border with Russia.

In a speech in Geneva, the Foreign Secretary will condemn Putin’s brutal tactics and accuse him of ‘murdering Ukrainians indiscriminately’.

Miss Truss will say: ‘The consequences of Vladimir Putin’s unjustified aggression are horrific. 

‘Russian troops are laying siege to once peaceful cities. Tanks are tearing through towns while missiles barrage homes and hospitals. 

‘Putin is murdering Ukrainians indiscriminately. There is blood on his hands, not just of innocent Ukrainians but the men he sent to die.’

She will hint at potential war crimes prosecutions, accusing the Russian president of ‘violating international law, including the UN Charter’.

The Foreign Secretary will continue: ‘He is violating human rights on an industrial scale and the world will not stand for it. 

‘There are no shades of grey. It is about right and wrong. This is Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war against a sovereign nation.’

Miss Truss will use today’s meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council to discuss relief for Ukrainians fleeing the conflict. 

Her comments go further than most other senior Western figures in condemning Putin’s growing use of indiscriminate weapons in heavily populated civilian areas.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday pulled out of the UN conference, where he was expected to face condemnation, saying EU travel sanctions meant he could no longer attend. 

Miss Truss warned MPs yesterday that ‘Putin’s war could end up lasting months and years’ but insisted inspiring Ukrainian resistance coupled with Western resolve would ensure he eventually failed.

‘Putin must lose,’ she said. ‘We are doing everything we can to stop him and to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty.’

It comes after the Kremlin has blamed Miss Truss for ordering Russia’s nuclear deterrent to be on high alert, claiming she made ‘absolutely unacceptable’ remarks about wider conflict with NATO. 

Putin said he had placed Moscow’s nuclear forces on a ‘special regime of combat duty’ in response to ‘aggressive statements’ from members of the Nato defence alliance.

But his spokesman Dmitry Peskov went further on Monday to blame the escalation during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Ms Truss.

The Foreign Secretary quickly struck back, with an ally saying the move was ‘clearly designed to distract from the situation on the ground in Ukraine’.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson prepared to travel to eastern Europe today for talks in Poland and Estonia, two Nato nations fearful they could be next on Putin’s hit list.

In Estonia, he will visit British troops serving as part of Nato operations to deter further Russian aggression and also meet Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg. 

Speaking ahead of his trip, the Prime Minister said: ‘I will visit two countries that are acutely affected by the crisis in Ukraine. We have shared values that are more important than ever to protect.’

Yesterday he told the Cabinet it was ‘becoming clearer with each day that Putin had made a colossal mistake’ as the ‘Ukrainian people had put up a fierce resistance in defence of their homeland’.

Downing Street said Mr Johnson discussed the latest intelligence suggesting Russia’s advance had also been hit ‘by logistical problems’. 

Miss Truss yesterday  announced the UK will freeze the assets of all Russian banks within days as she set out the Government’s latest sanctions against Vladimir Putin. 

The Foreign Secretary said the UK will also move to prevent Russian banks from clearing payments in sterling.

She also unveiled a new ban on the export of goods from Britain to Russia in a ‘range of critical sectors’. 

This move is designed to prevent Russia securing access to items which could be used in its war effort against Ukraine. 

Ms Truss said the export ban will ‘act as a drag on Russia’s economy for years to come’ as she also vowed to continue ‘ratcheting up’ sanctions in the coming weeks. 

The UK and its Western allies unveiled a wave of sanctions against Mr Putin last week. 

But there were immediate calls to go even further and the Government has promised to step up its efforts. 

Delivering a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon, Ms Truss announced two new sanction areas, with one relating to banks and the other to exports. 

She said: ‘Today I can inform the House I will be laying two new pieces of sanctions legislation.

‘The first introduces a set of new powers against Russia’s financial sector.

‘It includes powers to prevent Russian banks from clearing payments in sterling. With over 50 per cent of Russian trade denominated in dollars or sterling, our coordinated action with the United States will damage Russia’s ability to trade with the world.

‘And as soon as this legislation comes into force, we will apply it to Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank.

‘I will also be imposing a full asset freeze on three further banks, VEB, Russia’s national development bank, Sovcombank bank, the third largest privately owned financial institution in Russia, and Otkritie, one of Russia’s largest commercial banks.

‘We will bring in a full asset freeze on all Russian banks in days, looking to coordinate with our allies.’

Ms Truss said the second piece of legislation being brought forward by the Government will ‘ban exports to Russia across a range of critical sectors’. 

The Government wants to stop Russia from being able to secure high tech equipment from British firms. 

Ms Truss said: ‘This includes high end technological equipment such as micro-electronics, marine and navigation equipment.

‘This will blunt Russia’s military industrial capabilities and act as a drag on Russia’s economy for years to come.

‘I appreciate the consequences of this step for British people and British businesses operating in Russia and the Department of International Trade and the Treasury will offer advice and guidance to affected UK businesses.

‘My consular staff will continue to support British nationals in Russia as well as those in Ukraine.

‘And we will keep ratcheting up our response. More legislation will follow in coming weeks in sanctioning Russian-occupied territories in the Donbas, extending more sanctions to Belarus and limiting Russian deposits in UK banks.

Earlier in the day, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the UK Government will match new sanctions imposed by the US and the EU over the weekend by preventing Russian central banks from accessing cash in the UK.

The move by the UK, the US and the EU means the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR), the Russian National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation will struggle to access cash reserves.

It led to the rouble dropping more than 20 per cent against the dollar and could have fallen further if not for the central bank raising interest rates from 9.5 per cent to 20 per cent on Monday.

It comes as Ukraine’s president accused Russia of war crimes last night after Putin’s forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks on the fifth day of their invasion. 

In a late night address directed at Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said there would ‘definitely be an international tribunal’ for what he said was a ‘violation of all conventions’ and added that ‘no one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people.’

In a panicked bid to reignite his stalled military onslaught, Vladimir Putin had launched an indiscriminate bombing campaign on the eastern city of Kharkiv just 24 hours after local resistance had sent his troops packing from its streets.

Weapons rained down on the most Russia-friendly city in Ukraine – which sits 25 miles from the border and is home to 1.5million people – in a bid to break its will to resist.

The hail of bombs, shells and rockets which began falling at lunchtime left at least 11 dead, including three children, with homes and even a school reduced to rubble.

A military source told MailOnline that videos of the onslaught showed ‘cluster’ munitions – which are illegal under international law – had been used.