The woman who broke down in tears as she demanded Boris Johnson tighten UK sanctions against Russia is a high-profile Ukrainian campaigner who helped establish the country’s anti-corruption court.
Daria Kaleniuk’s voice began to crack as she urged the Prime Minister to impose tougher sanctions on Russia and its oligarchs following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
During a press conference in Poland, where Mr Johnson is visiting today ahead of talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Ms Kaleniuk said Ukrainian children were ‘taking the hit’ because of the refusal of NATO to get involved in the conflict.
She also urged the Prime Minister to get tough on Russian billionaires such as Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and their families, including Vladimir Putin’s, who she said were safe ‘in mansions’ while Ukrainian children were hiding in bomb shelters.
Mr Abramovich vehemently denies he is close to the Kremlin or has done anything that would merit sanctions being imposed against him.
Breaking into tears as she talked, Ms Kaleniuk, who said she recently fled her home in Kyiv, where many of her family and colleagues remain, she told the Prime Minister: ‘These are Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.
‘You’re talking about more sanctions Prime Minister but Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned. He’s in London.
‘His children are not in the bombardments. His children are there in London. ‘Putin’s children are in Netherlands, in Germany, in mansions, where all these mentioned seized? I don’t see that.
‘I see that my family members, that my team members, I’d say that we crying. We don’t know where to run. This is what is happening Prime Minister.’
Ms Kaleniuk is the co-founder and executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center (AntAC), an organisation that has shaped Ukraine’s anti-corruption legislation.
The woman who broke down in tears as she demanded Boris Johnson tighten UK sanctions against Russia is high-profile Ukrainian campaigner, Daria Kaleniuk (pictured), who helped establish the country’s anti-corruption court
Daria Kaleniuk’s (pictured) voice began to crack as she urged the Prime Minister, during a press conference in Poland, to impose tougher sanctions on Russian oligarchs following the country’s invasion of Ukraine
During a press conference in Poland, where Mr Johnson is visiting today ahead of talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Mr Kaleniuk said Ukrainian children were ‘taking the hit’ because of the refusal of Western powers to get involved in the conflict
Her group, which is funded by donations, and with the support of the US and the European Union, helped establish the country’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), as well as the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine – which was founded in 2019.
Ms Kaleniuk, who according to Linkedin studied law in Kharkiv before studying and working in the Chicago, US, for a year, co-founded the group with Vitaliy Shabunin, who is the head of the council of public control at NABU.
As co-founded of the group she has held talks with a number of high profile politicians, including Andy Baukol, then US acting Secretary of the Treasury, who she met in September last year, and George Kent, who served as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs from 2018 to 2021.
She visited Washington last year with Hanna Hopko, a former Member of Parliament and head of the committee on foreign affairs of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and the influential chairwoman of Ukrainian Democracy in Action.
And pictures from 2020 show her in discussion with Larry Fink – the billionaire businessman behind the highly influential BlackRock, an American multinational investment firm with an annual revenue of more than $22billion.
The pair are said to have discussed investment and the environment, according to her Facebook post.
Alongsider her work with AntAC, Ms Kalniuk has also founded resources aiming to track money laundering and corruption across the world and last year organised a Zero Corruption conference in Kyiv, where she was living prior to the Russian invasion.
She told the press conference in Poland she had escaped Ukraine ‘a couple of days’ ago but that most of her family and team remained in under siege Kyiv.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Ms Kaleniuk has called for heavy sanctions on Russia, including a no-fly, cutting Russia from the SWIFT banking system and arresting all Russian oligarchs and their family members – accusing them of being ‘enablers’ of the war.
She has demanded Russia be banned from world economy and financial markets and said Russia should be immediately removed from the UN Security Council.
‘If you can’t, just dissolve UN and throw it out from fancy offices in New York and other key cities at the West. Use these building for shelters of Ukrainians who are must flee their homes because of full impotence of international community,’ she said in a Facebook post last week.
She has also shared graphics comparing Vladimir Putin to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, and has shared inspirational quotes from Winston Churchill.
Ms Kalniuk, who is a mother of two, has previously shared her support for Hong Kong on social media, and has visited in China, having posted a picture of herself in the port city of Dalian in June 2019.
The confrontation came after Mr Johnson accused Mr Putin of using ‘barbaric and indiscriminate tactics’ against innocent Ukrainian civilians.
As the invading forces escalated their attacks with harrowing pictures of children falling victim to the violence, he warned that the world was witnessing an ‘unfolding disaster’.
Ms Kalniuk, who is a mother of two, has previously shared her support for Hong Kong on social media, and has visited in China, having posted a picture of herself in the port city of Dalian in June 2019
Since the invasion of Ukraine, Ms Kaleniuk has called for heavy sanctions on Russia, including a no-fly, cutting Russia from the SWIFT banking system and arresting all Russian oligarchs and their family members – accusing them of being ‘enablers’ of the war
She visited Washington last year with Hanna Hopko, a former Member of Parliament and head of the committee on foreign affairs of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada and the influential chairwoman of Ukrainian Democracy in Action. Pictured: Daria Kaleniuk
Pictures from 2020 show her in discussion with Larry Fink – the billionaire businessman behind the highly influential BlackRock, an American multinational investment firm with an annual revenue of more than $22billion
The UN says at least 136 civilians have been killed so far, including 13 children, and hundreds more injured.
Mr Johnson said the UK ‘stands ready’ to take refugees in ‘considerable numbers’ – suggesting that could mean more than 200,000.
He also pledged to stay for the long haul, insisting Putin has ‘fatally underestimated’ the resolve of the West and Ukraine’s citizens under the leadership of ‘inspirational’ Volodymyr Zelensky.
He stressed there is still ‘more things that we can and will do’ on sanctions.
But Ms Kaleniuk then stood up to lambast the West’s response. She said: ‘Ukrainian women and Ukrainian children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles which are going from the sky. Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the rights to protect our sky, we are asking for a no-fly zone.
‘What’s the alternative for the no-fly zone?
‘Nato is not willing to defend because Nato is afraid of World War Three but it’s already started and it’s Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.
The premier is now heading on to Estonia as the UK pushes for sanctions to be ratcheted up again.
In his speech, Mr Johnson said it was clear Putin is willing to ‘bomb tower blocks, to send missiles into tower blocks, to kill children, as we are seeing in increasing numbers’.
Heaping praise on Mr Zelensky he added: ‘I think he has inspired and mobilised not only his own people, he is inspiring and mobilising the world in outrage at what is happening in Ukraine.’
In a nod to criticism of the government’s visa offer to those fleeing Ukraine, Mr Johnson told Mr Morawiecki: ‘We stand ready, clearly, to take Ukrainian refugees in our own country, working with you, in considerable numbers, as we always have done and always will.’
In a speech in Warsaw afterwards, Mr Johnson said Putin is ‘tearing up every principle of civilised behaviour between states’ and Ukraine’s ‘spirit will not be broken’.
‘Putin has lied to his people and his troops about how this will go… and he has now been caught out in that lie.’
He added: ‘He has hurled his war machine on the people of Ukraine, a fellow Slavic country, he has bombarded civilian targets, fired rockets at blocks of flats, he is responsible for hundreds of civilian casualties including growing numbers of children.
‘And also, of course, for the deaths of many Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.
‘We must accept the grim reality that Putin will continue to tighten the vice and, if you go by the size and firepower of Vladimir Putin’s war machine, the odds have always been heavily against Ukrainian armed forces.’
Mr Johnson had ‘tripped and stubbed his toe’ on the fact that no matter how many troops and tanks he sends Ukrainians will want to be independent.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will say Putin has ‘blood on his hands’ and urge the West to ‘isolate’ him further when she addresses the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva later.
Boris Johnson arrived in Poland today and will head for Estonia later as he vows to exert ‘maximum pressure’ on the Kremlin
Speaking alongside Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw, Boris Johnson said the UK ‘stands ready’ to take refugees in ‘considerable numbers’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (pictured right in the Commons yesterday) will say Vladimir Putin (left) has ‘blood on his hands’ and urge the West to ‘isolate’ him further when she addresses the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva
In a round of interviews this morning, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab warned Putin could resort to ‘even more barbaric tactics’ as his campaign stalls, and insisted any war crimes must be pursued.
In a call with world leaders from the G7, Nato and the EU last night, Mr Johnson stressed the need for allies to continue to provide Kiev with defensive weapons.
He also said neighbouring countries will require support to deal with ‘large numbers of Ukrainians escaping violence’.
Mr Zelensky is said to be providing the PM with a ‘shopping list’ of military gear to fight the Russian advance in near-daily phone calls.
Mr Johnson is scheduled to visit British troops serving in Estonia, which shares a border with Russia, on his trip today.
Speaking before his visit to the two Nato members, Mr Johnson said: ‘Alongside all our international allies the UK will continue to bring maximum pressure to bear on Putin’s regime to ensure he feels the consequences of his actions in Ukraine.
‘We speak with one voice when we say, Putin must fail.’
In Estonia, Mr Johnson will hold talks with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
They will jointly visit British troops serving ‘on the front line of Russian aggression’ in Tapa, No 10 said, before meetings with Estonian PM Kaja Kallas and Estonian President Alar Karis to discuss security.
Mr Raab told Sky News: ‘Those that engage in war crimes will be held to account.’
He said it must be clear to ‘both to Putin but also to commanders in Moscow and on the ground in Ukraine that they will be held accountable for any violations of the laws of war’.
Voicing alarm at the prospects for escalation, Mr Raab said: ‘We know that Putin will react to this, or we fear that he will react to this, with even more barbaric tactics, that’s why we must be prepared that this could be a long haul.
The former foreign secretary added: ‘This is turning into a much, much more perilous misadventure for Putin than I think he realised and it has a demoralised effect on Russia forces and it has had the effect of steeling the will of the Ukrainian people.
‘That’s how we will ensure Putin fails in Ukraine and we’re there for the long haul.’
Meanwhile, Ms Truss is expected to tell the UNHRC that Mr Putin has ‘blood on his hands’ and has been ‘murdering Ukrainians indiscriminately’.
‘Putin is violating international law… he is violating human rights on an industrial scale and the world will not stand for it,’ Ms Truss is expected to say in a speech urging the West to ‘isolate’ Russia as a result of the war it has instigated.
Britain’s UN ambassador Dame Barbara Woodward told an emergency meeting of the Security Council last night that Ukraine is on the brink of a ‘humanitarian catastrophe’.
As Russia continues its assault on the eastern European country, Dame Barbara was among those at the UN to accuse the Kremlin of launching ‘indiscriminate attacks against men, women and children’ and violating international humanitarian law.
resident Volodymyr Zelensky is said to be providing the PM with a ‘shopping list’ of military gear to fight the Russian advance in near-daily phone calls
Kyiv endured another night of bombing on Monday before satellite images revealed the huge column of tanks headed for the city, with Putin’s men trying to cut off the capital and bomb it into submission
She said: ‘As a result of President Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a country of 44 million people is now on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe.
‘Missiles have rained down on Kharkiv, with cluster munitions hitting residential areas and injuring residents. Disruption to supply chains has caused food shortages in Kramatorsk.
‘The reckless bombing of an oil depot in Vasylkiv, has unleashed toxic fumes in nearby communities.
‘Violence in Kyiv has forced people to seek refuge underground, with many thousands, including the elderly and disabled, unable to evacuate.’
The UK permanent representative to the UN told the Security Council that ‘hundreds of civilians had been killed as a result of the Russian invasion’ and seven million people had been displaced, with the figure ‘rising exponentially’.
Ukraine’s representative, Sergiy Kyslytsya, told the council that Kyiv was ‘sitting within Russian crosshairs right now’ and that 352 people, including 16 children, had been killed as of Monday in the fighting.
He accused Moscow troops of attacking hospitals and ambulances in a determination to ‘kill civilians’, adding: ‘There is no debate. These are war crimes.’
But Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian UN permanent representative, said his country’s armed forces did ‘not have the goal of occupying Ukraine or harming the local population’.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said he plans to open an investigation ‘as rapidly as possible’ into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Mr Zelensky echoed Mr Kyslytsya’s statements in an address late last night. In a video posted to social media, the leader said that in five days Russian forces had launched 56 missile strikes and 113 cruise missiles in Ukraine.
He added: ‘Today, Russian forces brutally fired on Kharkiv from jet artillery. It was clearly a war crime.
‘Kharkiv is a peaceful city, there are peaceful residential areas, no military facilities. Dozens of eyewitness accounts prove that this is not a single false volley, but deliberate destruction of people: the Russians knew where they were shooting.’
‘There will definitely be an international tribunal for this crime — it’s a violation of all conventions. No one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people,’ he said.
