UK forces board sanctioned Russian oil tanker in English Channel for the first time, says Keir Starmer - UK politics live

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked the UK for intercepting a Russian shadow fleet oil tanker in the English Channel, describing it as an “important step”.

“It was Russia’s hubris, fuelled by high oil and gas revenues, that paved the way for this war, and every decision by partners that deprives Russia of money also limits the war itself” he wrote in a post on X , in which he personally thanked the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and “all Britons”.

He added in his post: “And Europe urgently needs to take legislative steps to enable not only the detention of tankers and restrictions on oil shipments, but also the confiscation of the oil they carry. This will certainly help bring peace closer.”

Along with France, the UK is leading the so-called “coalition of the willing” initiative to carve out security guarantees for Kyiv as part of any future peace deal with Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected negotiation proposals and has so far been sticking to his maximalist positions.

Over the four years since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion, the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has remained largely static as drone warfare hinders advances. The US-Israel war on Iran has shifted critical resources and diplomatic attention away from Ukraine over the last few months.