Britain hits five banks and three wealthy Russians with sanctions over Ukraine

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (Tolga Akmen/PA)

Britain will hit five Russian banks and three wealthy individuals with sanctions, Boris Johnson announced under a “first barrage” of punitive measures ahead of a feared full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The British Prime Minister described on Tuesday the troops being sent by Vladimir Putin into the Donbas region under the guise of being “peacekeepers” as a “renewed invasion” of Ukraine.