Vladimir Putin accused of war crimes in Ukraine as PM blasts him for ‘barbaric tactics against innocent civilians’

Vladimir Putin and his military commanders were on Tuesday accused of committing war crimes amid claims that increasingly horrific weapons and more indiscriminate air strikes were now being unleashed by Russian forces.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said that those responsible for war crimes faced being dragged before a court as Nazi leaders were at the Nuremberg trials after the Second World War.

Breaches of the laws of war, he added, would be documented and recorded as shocking new video footage and reports were coming out of Ukraine of civilian areas being hit by air strikes.

As the world reeled in horror at atrocities being committed, it emerged that five members of one family, including Sofia Fedko, aged six, were killed in southern Ukraine on the first day of the invasion last Thursday as Russian troops advanced from annexed Crimea towards the city of Kherson.

With bombardments now escalating in Ukraine, Boris Johnson said on a visit to Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday morning: “It’s clear that Vladimir Putin is prepared to use barbaric and indiscriminate tactics against innocent civilians to bomb tower blocks, to send missiles into tower blocks, to kill children, as we are seeing in increasing numbers.”

Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the conflict already, according to reports by the Ukrainian authorities which could not be confirmed. Mr Raab stated that the International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague was already looking at claims of war crimes. “The UK, in whatever form is necessary, will play its role as we have done over many years since right way back to Nuremberg, to make sure that anyone committing these egregious crimes will be held to account,” he told Times Radio.

“We have shown that recently, Radovan Karadzic, the butcher of the Balkans, has ended up in a British cell, via The Hague for his actions.

“Therefore the seed of doubt must be laid, not just in Putin’s mind, but anyone following these reckless orders and engaged in these reckless attacks on civilians, that they could end up in the dock of a court and they could end up spending the rest of their days behind bars.”

As Putin’s army stepped up attacks, including on Ukraine’s second largest city, the country’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: “Barbaric Russian missile strikes on the central Freedom Square and residential districts of Kharkiv. Putin is unable to break Ukraine down. He commits more war crimes out of fury, murders innocent civilians.”

Deputy Prime Minister Mr Raab, a human rights lawyer before becoming an MP, made clear that Putin himself could be brought to court for war crimes. He told Sky News that it must be clear “both to Putin but also to commanders in Moscow and on the ground in Ukraine that they will be held accountable for any violations of the laws of war”.

He added that the Russian President may resort to “even more barbaric tactics” as his military plans were still “stuttering” on the sixth day of the invasion, which had aimed to seize the capital Kyiv in a lightning strike, according to Western sources, but had suffered setbacks due to strong Ukrainian resistance, poor planning and logistical blunders.

Human rights groups and a senior Ukrainian diplomat have accused Russia of using cluster bombs and a vacuum bomb which can vaporise human bodies, weapons banned in civilian areas. These claims have not been confirmed. But Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, said he plans to open an investigation “as rapidly as possible” into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Western countries fear Russian commanders may adopt tactics they used in Syria and Chechnya in recent decades, when they pulverised civilian areas, killing thousands, as they sent in their tanks.

In latest developments:

* Putin’s forces were accused of deliberately shelling city centres to spread “mass panic”. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak claimed: “The veil has come down. Russia is actively shelling city centres, launching direct missile and artillery strikes on residential areas and administration sites.” He alleged that “Russia’s goal is clear — mass panic, civilian casualties and damaged infrastructure. Ukraine is fighting honourably.”

* The Kremlin called its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that was not intended to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities. Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian UN permanent representative, insisted his country’s armed forces did “not have the goal of occupying Ukraine or harming the local population”.

* But Kharkiv regional chief, Oleg Synegubov, said Russian Grad and cruise missile attacks hit the centre of Ukraine’s second-largest city, including residential areas and the regional administration building. “Such attacks are genocide of the Ukrainian people, a war crime against the civilian population,” he claimed.

Wearing a flak jacket and a helmet, Mr Synegubov said in a video posted on social media that it was too early to know the number of casualties in the city of 1.5 million near the Russian border in eastern Ukraine. He shared a video showing the Kharkiv regional administration building being hit by a missile and exploding.

* Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the bombing of Kharkiv as a war crime and said civilians were being deliberately targeted.

* A 40-mile column of tanks and other military vehicles was bearing down on the capital Kyiv, though, British intelligence chiefs said it had made “little progress” in the 24-hours to 7am. They also emphasised that Russian forces had increased their use of artillery north of Kyiv and near Kharkiv and Chernihiv.

* Putin’s plan is believed still to be to encircle Kyiv and seize control of the capital as a primary objective, as well as to cut off Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region. Mr Zelensky said: “For the enemy, Kyiv is the key target.” He has remained in the capital rallying Ukrainians with regular video updates, and said in his latest message overnight: “We did not let them break the defence of the capital, and they send saboteurs to us ... We will neutralise them all.”

* UK military intelligence chiefs also stressed that Putin’s forces had switched to more night operations to limit their losses after failing to gain control of the air space over Ukraine. Ukrainian defence sources claim more than 5,000 Russian troops have lost their lives in the invasion. The figure could not be confirmed. Many

Ukrainian soldiers are also believed to have died.

* The mayor of Mariupol said this morning that the southern port city was under constant shelling, which had killed civilians.

* Ukrainian authorities also reported 70 of its soldiers had been killed in a rocket attack in Okhtyrka.