Speaking to Sky News, Ellwood said: “Putin is very secure in his job. He’s not scared of any war crimes. He’s not scared of breaching the Geneva Conventions.

“In fact, he has taken advantage of the West’s timidity. We have given him space to conduct these horrors and that needs to stop.”

Looking ahead, the former soldier added: “We must brace ourselves for more horrors to be revealed, more war crimes to be exposed as Russian troops withdraw.

“This is far from over and there is another dark chapter soon to follow. There’s so much more we need to do.

form of offensive weaponry to Ukraine for fear of provoking Russia, Ellwood said: “We continue to leave Ukraine to do all the heavy lifting.

“We need to provide greater weapons systems and frankly stop having daft arguments about whether weapons systems are indeed defensive or offensive.”

Britain is considering sending armoured vehicles to Ukraine by way of more “lethal aid”, it was announced yesterday, but defence secretary Ben Wallace has said that they will not send tanks.

The Czech Republic are the only NATO member to have sent tanks, a decision that was carried out earlier this week with the permission of the organisation.