Videos of British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace being tricked into speaking by video call to an impostor posing as the Ukrainian prime minister were published on Monday, hours after the UK government said it believed "the Russian state" had carried out the hoax.

In the short teasers posted online by Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, Wallace earnestly answers questions from the phony caller including on UK deliveries of anti-tank weapons to Kyiv and Ukraine potentially obtaining nuclear arms.

Wallace is believed to have spent 10 minutes on the call, with the prankster duo pledging to post the full exchange on YouTube later this week.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesperson earlier on Tuesday said the Kremlin was to blame for the trick.

“The Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week," he said.

"This is standard practice for Russian information operations and disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try and distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there," he added.

YouTubers Vovan and Lexus are regular prank callers and have previously managed to speak directly with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and British singer Elton John. They have been accused of links to Russia's security services, but have denied the allegations.

The UK leader's office added that Home Secretary Priti Patel had been successfully targeted with a similar call, while an attempt to hoax culture minister Nadine Dorries was also made.

Last week, Wallace ordered an inquiry into the incident. "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," he wrote on Twitter.

"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."

Wallace's video call was arranged after an email was sent to a government department, purportedly from an aide at the Ukrainian embassy, which was then directed to the Ministry of Defence.

Patel took to Twitter to confirm she had been tricked. "This also happened to me earlier this week," she wrote. "Pathetic attempt at such difficult times to divide us. We stand with Ukraine."

This is not the first time senior Conservative politicians have been tricked into speaking to people posing as senior foreign officials.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also been targeted by a hoax call while serving as foreign minister in May 2018, where he discussed international relations and rude poetry with a someone pretending to be the Armenian prime minister.