On Tuesday (February 22), Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced a series of sanctions against Russia, which saw five banks have their assets frozen and three Russian billionaires hit with UK travel bans.

Following the move Shapps said: "The prime minister chaired a meeting of Cobra [Civil Contingencies Committee], and at that meeting we discussed Putin’s incursion into Donetsk and Luhansk, which is in breach of international law.

"Very significant sanctions will now result from that and from a travel point of view, we discussed it was very important that British nationals take note of the Foreign Office advice that they should leave Ukraine while commercial options still exist."

The UK Foreign Office said it has temporarily withdrawn some British embassy staff and their dependants from Ukrainian capital Kyiv and has advised against all travel to the country.