Defiant Putin warns the west: your sanctions are akin to an act of war

His intervention, in which he hinted the conflict could soon spread beyond Ukraine unless the west changed course, came as Moscow broke a ceasefire agreement to allow Ukrainian civilians to flee after 10 days of bombing and devastation.

As tensions rose to new levels, and early hopes that diplomatic progress might be made in behind-the-scenes negotiations were dashed, the UK Foreign Office advised all Britons in Russia to leave without delay by any available commercial routes. The number of UK citizens in the country is estimated at upwards of 6,000.

On Saturday, in the south of the country residents flooded the main square in the city of Kherson and protested peacefully against the occupation. They waved Ukrainian flags and even hijacked a Russian armoured personnel carrier, taking it for a spin, to loud applause. Similar large-scale anti-Russian demonstrations took place in Melitopol, where Russian soldiers fired into the air, and the Azov Sea port of Berdyansk.

As the ceasefire agreements broke down, both sides blamed each other. The Kremlin blamed Ukraine for the collapse of a deal to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol and the nearby town of Volnovakha, while Ukrainian officials said attempts to create a humanitarian corridor in the east for 200,000 trapped civilians failed because of shelling.