'Anti-War Coalition In Action': Ukraine President Zelensky After Talks With UK, Poland Leaders

During the phone call, Zelensky told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the next 24 hours were crucial for Ukraine.

New Delhi: As Russia continues its military operation in Ukraine amid stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Polish President Andrzej Duda and agreed on joint steps to counter Russian aggression.

"Talked to UK Prime Minister @BorisJohnson and Poland President @AndrzejDuda about the current security situation. Agreed on further joint steps to counter the aggressor. Anti-war coalition in action!," Zelensky tweeted.

During the phone call, Zelensky told British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the next 24 hours were crucial for Ukraine.

Responding to his counterpart, Johnson said the UK and its allies would do everything possible to guarantee that defensive aid reached Ukraine, a Downing Street spokesperson told Reuters.

"President Zelensky updated the prime minister on the most recent Russian military advances... including the terrible developments in Kyiv. The prime minister committed to provide further UK support to Ukraine in the coming days," Johnson's office said in a statement.

Britain has said it was ready to provide Ukraine with additional military support, including lethal defensive weapons. AFP reported. However, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace ruled out sending troops.

"That would trigger a European war because we are a NATO country, and Russia would therefore be attacking NATO," AFP quoted Wallace as saying.

Intensifying its crackdown against Russia, Johnson introduced the government's Economic Crime Bill in Parliament after the Opposition and those in the governing Conservative party demanded stopping the flow of Russian cash into London.

"There is no place for dirty money in the UK. We are going faster and harder to tear back the facade that those supporting (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's campaign of destruction have been hiding behind for so long," Johnson said.

"Those backing Putin have been put on notice: there will be nowhere to hide your ill-gotten gains," he said in a statement, according to Reuters. 

The government said the new bill would help the National Crime Agency prevent foreign owners from laundering their money in British property and to ensure more "corrupt oligarchs" could be handed an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWOs).

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his defence chiefs to put the country's nuclear "deterrence forces" on high alert and accused the West of taking "unfriendly" steps against his country.

Calling the move a "dangerous rhetoric", the US blamed Putin for escalating the war amid signs that the biggest assault on a European state since World War Two was not producing rapid victories.

"With this war on Ukraine, the world will never be the same again," EU's foreign policy chief Josef Borrell wrote in an opinion piece in the Guardian newspaper.