UK

All remaining COVID travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for arrivals, will end this week, the transport secretary has said.   Grant Shapps says anyone arriving in the UK from 4am this Friday will not need to comply with any of the previous rules. He tweeted: “These changes are possible due to

Twenty-one Ukrainian children suffering from cancer have arrived in the UK to receive life-saving care – as Britons are being urged to open their homes to people fleeing the war. The children and their immediate family members arrived from Poland on Sunday evening and will be assessed before they receive treatment at an appropriate NHS

Tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees could come to the UK and each local council will get more than £10,000 per individual, Michael Gove told Sky News. The housing and levelling up secretary, who is in charge of the Ukrainian refugee scheme, also said the UK has now processed “more than 3,000” visas for Ukrainians

Families who welcome Ukrainian refugees into their home for at least six months rent-free will receive a £350-a-month “thank you” from the government. After weeks of criticism of the government’s response to the refugee crisis, the Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove is finally announcing a “Homes for Ukraine” scheme. Mr Gove is proposing that a

Boris Johnson is poised to travel to Saudi Arabia next week for talks on oil as he attempts to move the UK away from dependence on energy supplies from Russia. Although Downing Street insists the trip is not finalised or confirmed, the prime minister is facing calls from Tory MPs to intervene to urge the

A Russian-born poet and Instagram favourite who fled the country after her father was murdered has called for Vladimir Putin to be arrested and tried for war crimes. Arch Hades, a pseudonym she uses for security reasons, told Sky News the bombardment of Ukraine was “abhorrent” and insisted most Russians oppose “Putin’s war”. The 29-year-old,

The UK has announced sanctions on 386 Russian politicians who supported Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Foreign Office has said. The sanctions mean bans on travel to the UK and the freezing of assets for those who voted for the independence of separatist regions Luhansk and Donetsk. Fears Putin’s forces could use chemical weapons

Boris Johnson has said it has been “deeply upsetting” and “absolutely agonising” to refuse President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a no-fly zone over Ukraine. The prime minister, speaking to Sky News’ Beth Rigby Interviews programme, said the pair have had some “very frank conversations” but the UK and NATO cannot cross that line. On Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy

Boris Johnson has said he fears Vladimir Putin may deploy chemical weapons in Ukraine as that would be “straight out of Russia’s playbook”. Speaking on Sky News’ Beth Rigby Interviews programme, the prime minister said the only way the war in Ukraine can end is if the Russian president realises he has made a “catastrophic

The coronavirus pandemic is not over and cases among older people are increasing, an expert has warned. Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), sounded the alarm after data showed that an increasing number of people aged 55 and older have COVID-19. About one in 35 people (2.88%) of people

Drivers in the UK have been hit by the largest daily rise in average diesel prices, as the cost per litre shot up by nearly 3p in a single day. Figures from data firm Experian Catalist show the average cost of a litre of diesel at UK forecourts reached 165.2p on Tuesday, up from Monday’s

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has announced the UK government will send more weapons to Ukraine, including fresh supplies of anti-tank missiles, for the country to defend itself against Russian aggression. Updating MPs on the Ukraine war in the Commons, he told MPs that the UK has delivered 3,615 anti-tank (NLAW) weapons and will soon be

Grant Shapps has said the UK is “not inadvertently doing something which escalates this war in a way that would be unacceptable to the entire world” as he seemingly confirmed a deal with Poland to supply fighter jets to Ukraine is off. The transport secretary told Sky News that all NATO partners “work together” on

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address British MPs via video link tomorrow. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has granted Mr Zelenskyy’s request to read a statement to the House of Commons at 5pm GMT on Tuesday. It is expected he will ask for more arms and will repeat calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine,

The Queen has held her first in-person engagement since catching COVID, meeting Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. The monarch held an audience with Mr Trudeau at Windsor Castle today, as he is in the UK for talks on the war in Ukraine with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte. Please use

More than 10,000 people have applied for the UK’s Ukraine Family Scheme since Friday. Under the scheme Ukrainian refugees who have family settled in the UK will be able to apply to come to Britain for three years. The numbers were announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel – on the same day France publicly criticised

Boris Johnson could increase the defence budget within weeks, amid fears the fallout from the Ukraine crisis will cost the exchequer tens of billions of pounds. Chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver the spring statement on 23 March alongside the latest Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts, which are published twice a year. The OBR is

Boris Johnson has claimed Vladimir Putin is trying to “rewrite the rules” of international order “by military force” – as he prepares to host world leaders for talks at Downing Street. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte of the Netherlands will visit Number 10 on Monday. On Tuesday, Mr Johnson will host leaders

A teenager who stabbed a girl 60 times in a “brutal, pre-planned and unprovoked attack” has been given a life sentence, police have said. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, left his victim fighting for her life following the frenzied assault in Sittingbourne, Kent, last July. The teenager lay seriously injured for

UK volunteer groups have praised the “overwhelming” response from the public in support of people affected by the ongoing Ukraine invasion.  On Friday, the Disasters Emergency Committee – an umbrella group for 15 charities – confirmed it had raised £55m within 24 hours of launching its appeal. But smaller groups, set up by local community

A 28-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering his partner’s toddler after “taunting” and beating him for months.  Kyrell Matthews was found in cardiac arrest at his home in October 2019, with 41 fractured ribs “crushed or broken by blows” and a 1.6 inch cut to his liver caused by blunt force trauma. The

Russia’s former deputy prime minister and a billionaire who previously held a major stake in football club Arsenal have become the latest oligarchs to be sanctioned by the UK, the Foreign Office said. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Alisher Usmanov, who owned more than 30% of Arsenal before selling up to current owner Stan Kroenke,

Ministers are considering emergency legislation to push through sanctions on Russian oligarchs linked to President Putin. Government sources have told Sky News that experts are looking at whether current laws could be tweaked or new ones brought in to speed up the process, which has stalled over recent days. Ukraine-Russia news live: Dire warning from

A group of 15 UK charities have launched a joint fundraising appeal to help more than a million refugees fleeing Ukraine as the Russian invasion “turns lives upside down”. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) began the effort on Thursday, with one member executive describing the situation as one of the most “heart-breaking he had ever

A British man who drove to Ukraine to be with his family has said he was “one hundred per cent willing” to take up arms against the Russians if it became necessary. Ian Umney, from Manchester, has travelled to Nikopol in the southeastern part of Ukraine and told Sky News how he was “shook to

Prince Charles has likened the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the killing of Sir David Amess as he fulfilled the MP’s long-held wish of making his constituency town of Southend a city. As he handed over the document which turned the Essex town into a city, he said: “What we saw in the terrible tragedy

The Queen has hosted two virtual engagements just over a week after testing positive for COVID-19, Buckingham Palace has said. Earlier on Tuesday, she received His Excellency Carles Jordana Madero, who presented the Letters of Recall of his predecessor and his own Letters of Credence as ambassador from the Principality of Andorra to the Court

The UK has announced further sanctions on Moscow, while Britons have been advised against all travel to Russia. ShortlyljForeign Secretary Liz Truss said three more Russian banks will be sanctioned over the invasion of Ukraine, including Russia’s largest – Sberbank. She also announced the UK will ban exports to Russia from the UK across a

Moscow has claimed that Vladimir Putin decided to put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert following statements from Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. According to the Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing: “Statements were made by various representatives at various levels on possible altercations or even collisions and clashes between

Immediate family members will be able to join Ukrainians settled in the UK as they flee the Russian invasion, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. Downing Street said the move – which comes after the government faced intense criticism over failing to relax the visa requirements for Ukrainian nationals earlier this week – will “benefit

The Ukraine conflict could last “a number of years” and the UK needs to be “prepared for a very long haul” in facing down Russian aggression, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has told Sky News. Speaking to the Trevor Phillips On Sunday show, Ms Truss praised the “very, very strong and brave” Ukrainian resistance against Russian

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has announced that he is handing stewardship of the club to trustees of its charitable foundation. Roman Abramovich will no longer be involved in club matters on a day to day basis and long term strategic decision making powers will instead be handed over to the Chelsea Foundation. In a statement,

British Airways has said all of its short-haul flights from Heathrow are cancelled until midday today following ongoing “technical issues”. The airline said customers due to travel later today should check their flight status on ba.com before coming to the airport as “we anticipate further disruption during the day”. It said its long-haul services at