Starmer to lead global push to weaponise frozen Russian billions against Putin
Sir Keir Starmer will make the case for using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defences as he hosts a meeting of leaders of the “coalition of the willing”.
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Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the UK wants to “finish the job” on frozen Russian assets and use them to help fund Ukraine’s defence against Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Speaking ahead of a major summit in London, he said: “We want to try and take Russian oil and gas off the global market. We want also to finish the job on the frozen Russian sovereign assets, essentially so we can use them to unlock billions of pounds to fund Ukraine’s defences, and thirdly, supplying long-range capabilities.
“By that, I mean missiles to Ukraine going into the winter months, which obviously has jobs benefits here in the United Kingdom as well. But fundamentally it is about that message to Putin and action to ramp up the pressure. Because it is Putin who is playing for time, Putin who is the one who is not coming to the table and engaging.”
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will host a meeting of world leaders this afternoon, both in person and virtually, as part of the so-called Coalition of the Willing, a group of Ukraine’s closest allies seeking to tighten the economic and military pressure on Russia as winter approaches.
The meeting comes days after a Russian strike on a Ukrainian nursery killed several young children, an attack Starmer condemned as “depraved”. He said: “The only person involved in this conflict who does not want to stop the war is President Putin, and his strikes on young children in a nursery this week make that crystal clear.
“From the battlefield to the global markets, as Putin continues to commit atrocities in Ukraine we must ratchet up the pressure on Russia and build on President Trump’s decisive action. Ukraine’s security matters to us all, and what happens on the frontline of Donetsk today is shaping our collective future for years to come.”
- Starmer is expected to use the London meeting to press leaders to:
- Take Russian oil and gas off the global market.
- Unlock billions of pounds by repurposing frozen Russian sovereign assets.
- Step up the gifting of long-range missile systems to Ukraine.
The UK will also announce the acceleration of a missile delivery programme, providing an additional 140 lightweight multirole missiles this winter as part of a £1.6 billion deal with Ukraine agreed in March.
The contract supports nearly 900 jobs in Belfast through manufacturer Thales and aims to triple LMM production capacity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof are among those attending the meeting at the Foreign Office. They will be greeted by pupils from St Mary’s Ukrainian School, which has supported hundreds of children displaced by the war.
The summit follows a wave of international measures in recent weeks, including new US sanctions on two major Russian oil firms and the EU’s 19th sanctions package, targeting Moscow’s energy trade and financial loopholes. Together, these moves form part of an unprecedented international effort to drain the Kremlin’s war chest and push Putin back to the negotiating table.
Government sources say the UK’s security strategy remains anchored in Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty, which ministers describe as “the frontline of European freedom.”