Ukraine’s president will ask for more help to block Putin’s growing ‘shadow fleet’ of tankers carrying sanctioned crude to buyers.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will attend an extraordinary meeting of the British cabinet on Friday to bring fresh impetus to efforts to stop Russia evading sanctions on its oil exports.
Zelenskiy will be the first foreign leader to visit Downing Street since Keir Starmer was elected prime minister two weeks ago, and the first foreign leader to address the cabinet in person since US President Bill Clinton in 1997.
The visit follows a meeting of EU leaders at the European Political Community summit in Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, where they agreed to launch a “call to action” to disrupt the growing fleet of “phantom” tankers carrying sanctioned Russian oil around the world.
Starmer emphasized the united stance of European leaders against those enabling Putin. “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,” he said.
This will be Zelenskiy’s second visit to the UK since the war began. He last visited in February 2023, when he addressed Westminster Hall, calling for the UK to supply Ukraine with fighter aircraft.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the number of oil tankers masking their identity and running without proper insurance has increased, allowing the Kremlin to build a “dark fleet” and maintain oil revenues to fuel Russia’s war efforts.
According to the maritime analyst Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the number of such vessels has doubled in the past year. The shadow fleet comprises about 600 vessels, representing about 10% of the global “wet cargo” fleet, and carries approximately 1.7 million barrels of oil daily, generating significant revenue for Russia, according to the British government.
Some ships are also suspected of doubling as Russian listening stations, while others are believed to be transporting weaponry to Russia.
Starmer is expected to assure Zelenskiy that the UK will intensify efforts to tackle the phantom fleet, an issue also highlighted by French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of the Blenheim summit.
Additionally, it is understood that the defence ministers of both countries will sign a defence export support treaty to boost weapons supply to the battlefield. This treaty is designed “to fire up both the UK and Ukraine’s industrial bases and increase military hardware and weaponry production.”
The treaty will include £3.5 billion to support Ukraine’s armed forces, complementing a similar amount recently agreed by the EU to help maintain public services in Ukraine, including schools and hospitals.
Simultaneously, Simon Harris, the Irish prime minister, and Starmer have shown interest in further supporting Ukraine with bomb shelters in schools.
Zelenskiy invoked the “bravery of Churchill” in his address to European leaders, commending them for maintaining unity in Europe by acting together. He also criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his recent “peace mission” to Moscow, accusing him of betraying fellow European leaders.
Referring to Putin, Zelenskiy said: “He may try to approach you, or go to some of your partners individually, trying to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you, so that one of you betrays the rest. We keep our unity.”
In an apparent reference to Orbán’s recent visit to meet Putin, he added: “If someone in Europe tries to resolve issues behind our backs, or even at the expense of someone else, if someone wants to make some trips to the capital of war to talk – and perhaps promise something against our common interests or at the expense of Ukraine or other countries – then why should we consider such a person?”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who also attended the summit, urged European leaders to engage with Donald Trump and JD Vance if they won the US elections in November.
He warned against creating a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that NATO would dissolve under a second Trump presidency and that the transatlantic bond would be severed.
He stated, “I think it’s important not to create self-fulfilling prophecies in a way that assumes a new administration in the US will mean the end of NATO. There were concerns about that also in 2016. The reality was that NATO is stronger after four years … more troops, high readiness.”
