Keir Starmer has vowed to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine, as he met world leaders in France for the G7.
After a torrid political week at home, the British prime minister sought to put himself on the front foot on the international stage at the meeting of the group of seven, which kicked off on Monday in the French spa town of Évian-les-Bains, on the shore of Lake Geneva.
Starmer is expected to meet the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, the first full day of the summit.
He will announce sanctions against Russia, days after British troops seized a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the Channel.
He is also set to use the meeting to reassure Donald Trump he is willing to raise defence spending, after the resignation of his defence secretary, John Healey, last week and ongoing delays to his defence investment plan – but is not expected to have a bilateral meeting with the US president.
The defence investment plan is now expected to be published before the Nato summit in Ankara in Turkey, which begins on 7 July.
After a series of devastating Russian attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure, Starmer has pledged £210m for Ukraine’s nuclear plants for the next two years, which he said would “power Ukraine through the winters ahead”.
“We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes and this announcement reinforces that,” he said. “Putin should roll back his tanks, end his barbaric strikes and come to the negotiating table.”
Government officials said the UK Export Finance investment in Urenco, a multinational uranium enrichment company 33% owned by the UK government, would supply enriched uranium to Ukraine’s nuclear power producer, Energoatom. The deal was agreed between Starmer and Zelenskyy during their meeting at Downing Street last week.
The agreement – which follows a two-year deal to supply nuclear fuel to Ukraine – would support UK jobs and exports, with a third of the uranium content coming from Urenco’s processing plant in Chester, said officials.
New sanctions on Russia will target finance networks, and expand the number of vessels targeted as part of Moscow’s shadow fleet carrying oil or liquified natural gas (LNG) to more than 600.
The new measures will also target a Russian state-linked network involved in covertly procuring western technology for Russia’s military, as well as suppliers helping Russia to illegally move money around the world.
The G7 – which brings together the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, alongside the EU, with leaders from other nations also invited for talks – will seek to shore up waning US support for Ukraine, but will also focus on the nascent peace deal between the US and Iran and the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.
On Sunday thousands of anti-G7 protesters including environmentalists and feminists clashed with police in Geneva, setting a car on fire and smashing the windows of a bank.
Starmer could face difficult questions from Trump, whose White House urged the UK not to impose the social media ban for under-16s announced on Monday.
Senior US officials have indicated that while Trump will take part in a G7 working session with Zelenskyy on Tuesday, the US president will not hold a bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
Trump is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings on the summit’s sidelines with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as well as with the leaders of Egypt, India, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, an official said.
