UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Monday that US sanctions imposed on Russian oil last week are bolstering Ukraine’s prospects.
“We’re in a better place,” Starmer said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday. “Last week there were really significant developments.”
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced shock “massive sanctions” on Russia’s two largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, after voicing frustration with Moscow’s attempts to stall peace negotiations.
“This one I’d pick out as the biggest development is what we’ve done on sanctions,” Starmer said. “We sanctioned all the oil majors, President Trump then sanctioned the two oil majors, and the EU came out with their latest package all within the space of a few days.”
“That’s had a profound impact on Russia’s economy,” the British premier explained, suggesting that Kyiv’s allies could be confident that US measures will frustrate the Kremlin’s efforts to maintain its war in Ukraine.
Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy, said on Friday that Russia and the US were “quite close” to reaching a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine as he traveled to Miami to meet with senior Washington officials including Steve Witkoff.
Starmer also told Bloomberg that he had spoken with Trump over the phone on Sunday about compelling China to cease its purchases of Russian oil, saying it was important to “press on” with increasing the strain on Moscow.
“Trump is meeting President Xi this week,” Starmer said. “I spoke to him yesterday in fact about the meeting he’s going to have with President Xi, so I do think it’s important in that respect.”
In September, Putin said that ties with China were at an “unprecedented level” as the pair met in Beijing to deepen their “no limits” military and economic bond.
The British prime minister said that he was “struck last week by the fact that India and China also reduced their dependencies,” but added that he would tell Beijing that “everybody needs to stop buying Russian oil.”
Starmer also said that he was discussing the provision of long-range missiles for Ukraine with Trump, weapons Kyiv hopes could force Moscow to the negotiating table by enabling more strikes deep inside Russia.
He continued that European leaders would “try and bookend or put a timeline” on the decision around using frozen Russian central bank assets to provide a financial lifeline to Kyiv, saying that it could be a signal to Putin that Western backing for Ukraine will withstand Moscow’s attritional military campaign.
Last week, Belgium blocked a plan to approve a €140 billion ($162 billion) loan for Ukraine backed by proceeds from frozen Russian sovereign assets over fears that it could face legal and financial retaliation from Moscow.
“Russia’s economy is definitely being damaged quite significantly and that’s why we need to keep working on the sanctions,” Starmer said. “That is my assessment, that is also the assessment of the EU.”
The comments came as Starmer traveled to Ankara on Monday to sign a deal worth up to £8bn ($10.7bn) to supply Turkey with 20 Typhoon fighter jets.
The British premier described the agreement, which is the UK’s largest fighter jet export deal in almost two decades, as “a win for British workers, a win for our defense industry and a win for NATO security.”
“I’m proud that British Typhoons will form a vital part of the Turkish airforce for many years to come, as you defend NATO’s south-eastern flank for the good of all of us,” Starmer said.