In Show of Support, Starmer Invites Zelensky to Attend Cabinet Meeting

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting of his top ministers on Friday (19 July), a show of support for the Ukrainian leader who will welcome a new plan to try to disrupt Russia’s attempts to evade shipping sanctions.

A day after hosting a forum of European leaders at Blenheim Palace, Starmer pressed on with his bid to raise Britain’s role in international affairs by inviting Zelenskyy to address his cabinet. The last foreign leader to address a UK cabinet meeting was US President Bill Clinton in 1997, Starmer’s office said.

Zelensky will also welcome the launch of a “call to action” against Russia’s 600-strong ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers used to break sanctions, officials said.

Starmer is expected to tell the Ukrainian leader that Britain will do more in the coming months to dent Russia’s “war machine”, including agreeing a new defence export support treaty to help Kyiv draw on export finance.

“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,” Starmer said in a statement.

“And alongside our European partners, we have sent a clear message to those enabling (Russian President Vladimir) 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.”

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Earlier on Thursday, Britain announced sanctions on 11 vessels used to transport Russian oil.

Britain has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, and Starmer swiftly reaffirmed London’s commitment to Kyiv after winning a landslide election earlier this month, telling Zelensky at NATO while there was a change of government, there was “no change of approach”.

The new measures against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” include plans to share data on the network of the often older tankers used in shipping Russian oil, so that individual vessels can be identified and action taken against them.

The Defence Export Support Treaty, to be signed by defence ministers, will enable Ukraine to draw on 3.5 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) of export finance, to fire up both Britain’s and Ukraine’s defence industrial bases and boost production.

Starmer, at NATO last week, re-committed to a pledge by his predecessor, Conservative Rishi Sunak, to deliver 3 billion pounds a year of military support to Ukraine until 2030-31 and beyond if needed.