World leaders have considered further isolating Russian President Vladimir Putin with a blanket offer of asylum to Moscow’s diplomats - if they denounce him.
Diplomatic sources told the Mirror of plans to extend the one time deal to Moscow’s diplomats to discredit the Russian leader as Ukraine battles for its life against the country.
A senior source in London told The Mirror: “There are murmurings that Putin’s foreign diplomatic community are becoming increasingly nervous, perhaps looking for a way out.
“The decision to make the offer has not been made public but there have been whispers about it and anything is possible as this situation is getting seriously desperate.
“A run of diplomats defecting for a good resettlement deal could slow down this war as the Kremlin deals with the after-shock that this would cause.
“But the deal would be that they must publicly denounce him for what he has done and really commit to wanting a new life in safety, perhaps hidden from his assassins.
“It is very important that if there is some insurrection, some kind of growing feeling in Moscow that Putin has gone too far that gets momentum very quickly.
“Russian politics can move and change at a terrific pace but something needs to be done and a new-life deal could be exactly what some Russian diplomats want right now.
"But the deal is likely to be that they say publicly that he has to go and that this invasion was a desperate and mad mistake."
It comes as Ukrainian officials said that the Russian forces fired at the Kyiv TV tower and Ukraine’s main Holocaust memorial, among other civilian sites targeted on the sixth day of the Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s State Service for Emergency Situations said the strikes on the TV tower killed five people and left five more wounded.
Labour shadow foreign minister Stephen Doughty urged the Government to “go even faster and further” with sanctions on Russia, warning in some cases the sanctions have been “off the pace” compared with allies.
He said: “As the humanitarian situation worsens, it’s a stark reminder of the urgency and the need to do everything we can to step up the pressure on Putin to end this bloody campaign.”
