The UK government has announced a new package of sanctions targeting Russian oil company Slavneft and 11 shadow fleet ships illicitly transporting oil, in a move Prime Minister Andy Burnham said would turn the screws on Moscow's oil revenues.
Downing Street said the UK is now the first country to have sanctioned all of Russia's 10 major oil producers. The Prime Minister, speaking from Dublin where he attended talks with around 50 European leaders, called on allies to increase pressure on the Kremlin.
Prime Minister's warning on Ukraine peace talks
Mr Burnham said: "Peace talks on Ukraine have progressed but now is not the time for complacency - we must continue to ramp up pressure on Russia to agree a full and immediate ceasefire."
He added: "That is why the UK has announced a sweep of stinging new sanctions to turn the screws on Russia's oil revenues and drive forward an end to the Kremlin's needless war. We all now need to harness the momentum on negotiations and find a way forward for our security at home, and the security of our continent."
Diplomatic efforts continue
The Prime Minister's comments came after Donald Trump aides Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Abu Dhabi for talks with Kyiv and Moscow to end the almost five-year-long war. Ukraine's wartime leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who said there was a "window of opportunity" to end the conflict, also arrived in Ireland.
Speaking on the BBC's Today programme, the UK's former national security adviser Sir Mark Sedwill said after negotiations in Abu Dhabi: "We should hope these negotiations can actually achieve real progress - there does seem to be some positive news, for example on prisoner exchanges. But there is a long way to go."
He added: "The objectives of Russia and Ukraine are not compatible. Ukrainians want the Russians out of their territory at the very least… there is still a big gap to bridge. But let's hope that these talks are making some progress towards at least a ceasefire, if not a full peace agreement."
European summit in Dublin
Today's meetings are the latest leg of a diplomatic blitz from Mr Burnham, who just hours before was delivering a speech in Turkey on the climate crisis. He will also use Thursday's meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) gathering to prepare the ground ahead of next week's high-stakes UK-EU summit.
At the meeting in Brussels on November 20, new post-Brexit agreements are expected to be brokered on issues including youth mobility. Earlier, Micheál Martin, the Taoiseach, said he believed the EU was united on Ukraine, as he opened the summit in Dublin. Authorities in the city have mounted the biggest security operation in the history of the Irish state with a ring of steel throughout the capital.
Mr Martin told the EPC summit: "I think Europe, broadly speaking, is united. I mean, the more fundamental impulse, we are democrats, we believe in democratic values. We don't believe in war. We're appalled and we oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
He added: "I think everyone is genuinely shocked at the level of death and destruction that has occurred because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is absolutely shocking and horrific the number of young people who have lost their lives, Ukrainians and Russian soldiers who have lost their lives needlessly because of the imperialist agenda of Vladimir Putin. And Europe has stood strong, in my view."
