Britain pushes allies to boost Ukraine support

LONDON: Britain on Friday urged fellow allies of Ukraine to reach a deal to use frozen Russian assets to strengthen its hand for any future peace talks, as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London for talks with those allies. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office said he would also press the 'Coalition of the Willing' countries to take Russian oil and gas off the global market and give Kyiv more long-range missiles. European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to meet Ukraine's 'pressing financial needs' for the next two years but stopped short of endorsing a plan to use frozen Russian assets to fund a giant loan to Kyiv over Belgian concerns.
Zelensky had asked the EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday for long-range missiles and to use the frozen assets to provide it with more weapons. He also welcomed US President Donald Trump's decision to impose sanctions on Russia's two biggest oil companies, a dramatic U-turn after last week announcing plans for a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky met King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Friday before a meeting of Kyiv's key backers, where Britain's prime minister will call on Europe to deliver more long-range missiles. Kyiv's Western allies have raised pressure on Moscow as the war enters its fourth winter, with the United States and European Union both announcing new sanctions this week on Russian energy aimed at crippling its war economy. The Ukrainian national anthem played at the almost 1,000-year-old Windsor Castle west of London where Zelensky was taken inside for an audience with the king for their third known meeting of the year.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky that Kyiv's allies should go 'further' in supplying long-range weapons, as the pair met in Downing Street on Friday. 'I think there's further we can do on capability, particularly... long-range capability', Starmer said at the start of their meeting. He added that a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing, comprising European leaders supporting Ukraine, would also discuss the 'vital work' of providing future 'security guarantees'.
Starmer said Putin was not serious about ending the war. 'Time and again we offer Putin the chance to end his needless war, to stop the killing and recall his troops, but he repeatedly rejects those proposals and any chance of peace', he said in a statement. 'We must ratchet up the pressure on Russia and build on President Trump's decisive action'. Moscow has promised a 'painful response' if the assets are seized. Putin also said the sanctions on oil companies were an unfriendly act, but would not significantly affect the Russian economy. In another bid to starve Moscow of revenue, the EU approved a 19th package of sanctions, which includes a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.
The EU froze around 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets after Moscow's tanks rolled into Ukraine and the European Commission has proposed using the funds to provide a huge loan to Kyiv — without seizing them outright. But the plan has faced strong objections from Belgium, where the bulk of the frozen Russian assets are held. The broadly worded conclusions of Thursday's summit in Brussels — adopted by all member states except Hungary — did not mention the loan directly, instead inviting the commission 'to present, as soon as possible, options for financial support'.
Zelensky nonetheless welcomed the outcome as a signal of 'political support' for the notion of using Russian assets to keep Kyiv in the fight. European Council President Antonio Costa said the bloc had 'committed to ensure that Ukraine's financial needs will be covered for the next two years'. 'Russia should take good note of this: Ukraine will have the financial resources it needs to defend itself', he told a news conference. — Agencies