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Prime Minister Scott Morrison will convene cabinet's national security committee as Western nations begin to impose the first tranche of sanctions against Russia.

Sanctions by the United States and United Kingdom will target Russian billionaires and financial institutions while Germany put the brakes on a new gas pipeline.

The committee is expected to finalise what targeted sanctions and measures Australia will introduce.

International security and intelligence professor John Blaxland said Australia would look to support European and NATO action "without overstepping the mark".

"I'm a little bit worried that this may once again become a political football and we need to be very, very cautious at this point," he told the Nine Network.

Australia has ruled out direct military assistance and is supporting Ukraine's cyber-capability. It has left the door open for technical military support but the prime minister declined to elaborate on what the term meant.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews has met her Five Eyes counterparts on Ukraine

"We'll be considering sanctions and the extent of those and in the days to follow," she told radio 4BC.

Ms Andrews said there were concerns about a potential cyber attack on Australian critical infrastructure.

"That doesn't mean we will go lightly in our response to Russia because this behaviour needs to be called out."

The head of the Ukrainian embassy in Canberra, Volodymyr Shalkivskyi, urged Western nations to be unified in their sanctions.

"We need Australia to join its partners in applying additional sanctions against Russia, and we also hope that the Australian government will provide additional assistance," he told Sky News.

"Sanctions have to be targeted in the most vulnerable areas of the Russian economy, and everyone knows the most sacred areas of the Russian economy is energy."

However, Mr Shalkivskyi said even if Ukraine announced it would no longer join NATO, there would still be Russian aggression in the region.

"It would not change anything because it's not about NATO it's about the independence of Ukraine ... (Putin) questions our right to be independent," he said.

"Even if we refuse or put out the agenda of NATO membership, the simple factor of the independence of Ukraine will be an irritation for the Kremlin for years to come."

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia was reviewing options relating to Ukraine's pro-Russia breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk, and an announcement would be made as soon as possible.

Russia's parliament approved treaties with the two regions a day after President Vladimir Putin recognised their independence.

"We will use whatever tools we have available to us to the greatest degree to ensure that we are applying sanctions in conjunction with our counterparts," Senator Payne told the ABC.

She also reserved the right to summon or expel the Russian ambassador but said the focus remained on targeted sanctions.

"As to how we deal with diplomats, that's a matter I'll turn my mind to at an appropriate time," Senator Payne said.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Western countries needed to be united with sanctions against Russia and that Australia had to join in implementing them.

"For it to be effective, it has got to be as wide, with as broad participation as possible," he told reporters in Tasmania.

"The Australian government must join this action, the west must stand united, democratic nations need to call this out for what it is.

"This isn't a peacekeeping force, but a peace-breaking force into sovereign areas of Ukraine."

However, former British ambassador to Russia Anthony Brenton told the ABC previous economic sanctions have had little effect against the country, only knocking off around 0.2 per cent of GDP each year.

"They have certainly not been effective ... and while they've had little economic effect they have had zero policy effect," he said.

"The Russians gather around their president when pressure from outside is coming at them and they've been pretty tough in their refusal to bend to Western economic pressure. I would expect exactly the same in the upcoming round of sanctions now."

© AAP 2022

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will convene cabinet's national security committee as Western nations begin to impose the first tranche of sanctions against Russia.

Sanctions by the United States and United Kingdom will target Russian billionaires and financial institutions while Germany put the brakes on a new gas pipeline.

The committee is expected to finalise what sanctions and measures Australia will introduce.

International security and intelligence professor John Blaxland said Australia would look to support European and NATO action "without overstepping the mark".

"I'm a little bit worried that this may once again become a political football and we need to be very, very cautious at this point," he told the Nine Network ahead of the meeting on Wednesday.

Australia has ruled out direct military assistance and is supporting Ukraine's cyber-capability. It has left the door open for technical military support but the prime minister declined to elaborate on what the term meant.

The head of the Ukrainian embassy in Canberra Volodymyr Shalkivskyi wants the Australian government to join the sanctions to show a unified position with international partners.

"There's need for significant expansion of sanctions. Sanctions are the most effective way right now to influence the situation," the Charge d'Affaires told the ABC.

"We would like to avoid full-scale war. There is still a door open for diplomacy but we are not ready to sacrifice fundamental principles of freedom (and) independence".

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia is reviewing options relating to Ukraine's pro-Russia breakaway regions Donetsk and Luhansk, and an announcement would be made as soon as possible.

Russia's parliament approved treaties with the two regions a day after President Vladimir Putin recognised their independence.

"We will use whatever tools we have available to us to the greatest degree to ensure that we are applying sanctions in conjunction with our counterparts," Senator Payne told the ABC.

She also reserved the right to summon or expel the Russian ambassador but says the focus remains on targeted sanctions.

"As to how we deal with diplomats, that's a matter I'll turn my mind to at an appropriate time," Senator Payne said.

But before the committee had even met, the former British ambassador to Russia told the ABC previous economic sanctions have had little effect against the country, only knocking off around 0.2 per cent of GDP each year.

"They have certainly not been effective ... and while they've had little economic effect they have had zero policy effect," Anthony Brenton said.

"The Russians gather around their president when pressure from outside is coming at them and they've been pretty tough in their refusal to bend to Western economic pressure. I would expect exactly the same in the upcoming round of sanctions now."

Mr Brenton said Mr Putin isn't a rash actor, only engaging in limited and contained foreign policy actions that don't risk large Russian casualties.

"I know he is a very cautious man. He is not a man who takes uncalculated, unquantified risks," he said.

"He is not going to go for a very big scale invasion of Crimea, which would be a huge operation with vast potential downsides if it goes wrong, downsides including Putin potentially losing his job."

The former diplomat also cautioned against the use of inflated rhetoric as he holds out hope for a negotiated outcome.

"I'm an ex-diplomatic which means you never call a spade a spade," he said.

"You find soft language, you try to get tensions down, you try to get people talking in reasonable terms and hopefully an agreement emerges from that."

© AAP 2022

President Joe Biden says the United States is imposing a first tranche of sanctions against Russia for "the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine" and promised that more would come if Moscow goes further into the country.

Biden, speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the White House, said the US would impose sanctions against two large Russian financial institutions and Russian sovereign debt.

Starting on Wednesday, he said, sanctions would begin against Russian elites and their family members as well.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday told Russia's defence ministry to deploy what he calls peacekeeping forces into two breakaway regions of Ukraine after recognising them as independent, defying Western warnings that such a step would be illegal and wreck peace negotiations.

"This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine," Biden said.

"Russia has now undeniably moved against Ukraine by declaring these independent states."

The US had promised severe sanctions against Russia in the event it invades Ukraine, which the White House has previously defined as "any movement of troops across the border."

Biden said the sanctions in the initial tranche applied to VEB bank and Russia's military bank, referring to Promsvyazbank, which does defence deals. He said the sanctions against Russia's sovereign debt meant the Russian government would be cut off from Western financing.

"As Russia contemplates its next move, we have our next move prepared as well," Biden said.

"Russia will pay an even steeper price if it continues its aggression, including additional sanctions."

On Monday a senior administration official said Russia sending troops to the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine did not represent a further invasion because Russia had troops there previously.

But on Tuesday, deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said an invasion had begun. Biden used similar language.

The US could wield its most powerful sanctioning tool against certain Russian people and companies by placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals list, effectively kicking them out of the US banking system, banning them from trading with Americans, and freezing their US assets.

The Biden administration has said it plans to spare everyday Russians from the brunt of US export controls if Russia invades Ukraine, and focus on targeting industrial sectors, a White House official said in late January.

Still, "key people" will also face "massive sanctions," White House national security official Peter Harrell said in a speech in Massachusetts.

© DPA 2022