Ukraine's Zelensky to address UK Cabinet

LONDON - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the UK’s new Cabinet on July 19, briefing senior ministers about the battlefield situation in the war with Russia, Downing Street said on July 18.

Mr Zelensky will be the first official visitor to Downing Street since Mr Keir Starmer became prime minister on July 5, and the first foreign leader to address Cabinet in person since US president Bill Clinton in 1997.

“Ukraine is, and always will be, at the heart of this government’s agenda and so it is only fitting that President Zelensky will make a historic address to my Cabinet,” Mr Starmer said, ahead of the meeting.

Mr Starmer’s Downing Street office said Mr Zelensky would tell ministers in the extraordinary meeting of the need for leaders across the continent to “ramp up Europe’s defence industrial base to outpace the Russian threat”.

Downing Street said Britain was spearheading action to disrupt Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which London says is enabling Moscow to evade international sanctions.

The shadow fleet is made up of around 600 vessels and carries approximately 1.7 million barrels of oil per day, generating significant funds for Moscow under President Vladimir Putin.

The vessels are often old and engage in “dangerous and deceptive shipping practices, such as turning off location tracking systems”, said London.

Downing Street said some 44 European countries plus the European Union agreed at the European Political Community (EPC) summit on July 18 “to work together to tackle the use of illegitimate vessels, which also pose significant security and environmental threats to European waterways.”

“Alongside our European partners, we have sent a clear message to those enabling Putin’s attempts to evade sanctions: we will not allow Russia’s shadow fleet, and the dirty money it generates, to flow freely through European waters and put our security at risk,” said Mr Starmer.

Stranglehold

Mr Zelensky attended the EPC summit at Blenheim Palace near Oxford, southern England, and urged Europe to remain united in support of the Ukrainian war effort against Russia.

He also had an audience with Britain’s head of state King Charles III at Blenheim, where World War II leader Winston Churchill was born.

Mr Starmer is expected to tell Mr Zelensky on July 18 that the UK “will go further in the coming months to place a greater stranglehold on Putin’s war machine,” according to his office.

The two leaders are also due to sign a treaty to boost both the UK and Ukraine’s “defence industrial bases and increase military hardware and weaponry production.”

It will allow Ukraine to access £3.5 billion (S$6.1 billion) to support its armed forces and for defence companies in both countries to invest in further military capabilities and innovation.

The UK also announced that it had sanctioned a “host of oil tankers” that transport Russian oil.

This follows on previous efforts in London to restrict Russian revenues, including the sanctioning of more than 2,000 individuals and entities since the invasion of Ukraine by Kremlin forces in February 2022.

Those targeted include 29 banks, more than 131 oligarchs and more than £20 billion worth of UK-Russia bilateral trade. AFP