Ukraine: Russia invasion 'could increase food prices' says Smith

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The development comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Western allies on Monday to consider imposing a no-fly zone for Russian missiles, planes and helicopters in response to their shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Dominic Raab said on Tuesday it was right that Britain “considers everything” in its attempts to support Ukraine against aggression from Putin’s forces.

Speaking on LBC, Mr Raab said: “I can’t comment on that.

“We’ve been clear that we’ve provided training, we’ve provided anti-tank weapons, and all I would say is nothing is off the table… I would put it that we haven’t ruled anything out.”

But he also claimed “putting UK forces in a position where they will be directly required to shoot down Russian planes” would “feed Putin’s narrative”.

He told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “From the point of view of the distinction between what we would do for a NATO ally and Ukraine, which is a close partner who we want to support, we will not get involved directly in military operations against Russia.”

Raab added: “We have considered the no-fly zone but for the reasons I’ve given… the international committee as a whole has decided against it.”

Zelensky claimed on Monday that Putin’s forces had launched 56 rocket strikes on the city in the preceding five days and accused Russia of committing war crimes during the conflict.

He said: “I believe that Russia is trying to apply pressure in this unsubtle way.

“Do not waste time.

“We do not accept such tactics.

“Fair negotiations can occur when one side does not hit the other side with rocket artillery at the very moment of negotiations.”

The US has ruled out supporting Ukraine via imposing a no-fly zone, with White House spokesperson Jen Psaki insisting on Monday that President Joe Biden was “not intending to send US troops to fight a war with Russia”.

Last week, Defence secretary Ben Wallace also appeared to rule out a no-fly zone, insisting that sending troops to Ukraine would be equivalent to NATO declaring war on Russia.

He said: “To do a no-fly zone, I would have to put British fighter jets directly against Russian fighter jets.

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“NATO will have to effectively declare war on Russia because that’s what you would do.”

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