The Defence Secretary has hit out at Russian “dirty tricks” as he revealed how he was forced to terminate a call from an “imposter” claiming to be Ukraine’s prime minister.

Posting on Twitter, Ben Wallace wrote: “Today an attempt was made by an imposter claiming to be Ukrainian PM to speak with me.

“He posed several misleading questions and after becoming suspicious I terminated the call.

“No amount of Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks can distract from Russia’s human rights abuses and illegal invasion of Ukraine. A desperate attempt.”

The defence secretary has ordered an immediate inquiry into how the imposter was able to speak to him via telephone, a Ministry of Defence source said.

Mr Wallace was in Poland on Thursday where he announced the deployment of the Sky Sabre missile system, along with 100 troops.

Downing Street said the deployment of the ground based air defence system would be “supporting the Polish armed forces at the request of the Polish government”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “It is, as ever, a purely defensive capability which we are providing on a bilateral basis to Poland. It will remain under UK control at all times.”

The spokesman added it was a “short-term deployment”.

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