DOUGLAS Ross has invoked the deaths of innocent people in Ukraine in order to defend the law-breaking Prime Minister’s job.

The Scottish Tory leader said that it would take “months” to replace Boris Johnson, who on Tuesday became the first sitting prime minister in history to be punished for breaking the law.

However, Ross insisted the war in Ukraine meant it was not the time to be changing leadership, and suggested those calling for Johnson to go were aiding the Russian regime.

He told the BBC: "It would take several months to change a prime minister during a conflict where we are seeing nightly on our televisions shallow graves of innocent men, women and children being buried by these barbaric Russian forces ...

“Anything that would destabilise the UK Government at this time would be a bonus to Vladimir Putin.

“He is indiscriminately killing innocent people and I will do nothing to help and support a war criminal like Putin.”

READ MORE: The party must be over for Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak after lockdown-breaking fines

SNP MP Stewart McDonald said it was "revolting" to see the Tories using "the blood of dead Ukrainians as a shield".

He wrote on Twitter: "Tory politicians taking to social media and the airwaves to downplay Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s lawbreaking and lying, whilst also cynically using the blood of dead Ukrainians as a shield, is one of the most revolting episodes I’ve witnessed yet."

"A political and moral sewer," he added.

Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Tory leader, has come out against Johnson. She said he “broke the rules he imposed on the country and lost the moral authority to lead”, adding: “He should go.”

Ross further struggled to answer questions around why Johnson should not resign as he was confronted over whether the Prime Minister had wilfully misled parliament.

The Scottish Tory leader was appearing on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland when he initially refused to answer whether or not he thought Johnson to be a “truthful” man.

Pressed on the issue, he answered “yes”, but floundered when confronted with quotes from Johnson’s statement to Parliament.

The Prime Minister previously told MPs in the Commons that “all guidance was followed completely at No 10”.

Ross declined to say whether Johnson had misled Parliament, but told the BBC he had to explain “why he said that and what he believed to be the case”.

“Clearly he thought something different,” he went on.

“The Prime Minister has to explain why he said that … and statements he's made at the despatch box in the House of Commons because it's quite clear now, both with the police investigation, the issue of the fine and the acceptance of that fine by the Prime Minister, that that statement is not correct.”

Pressed on whether there was any other conclusion than that Parliament was misled, Ross repeated his statement.

He further refused to answer questions on whether a poor result in the upcoming council elections would mean his job.

Ross insisted that the Scottish Conservatives were looking set to return a strong result in the May 5 vote, adding: “These are local elections, about local issues.”

On Tuesday, Johnson issued a “full apology” for having broken the laws he had set, and said “in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better” from him.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak was also fined for breaking lockdown rules, and also issued an apology but refused to step down.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon suggested the two were ignoring the "basic values of integrity and decency - essential to the proper working of any parliamentary democracy".