The UK and EU have placed fresh sanctions on Russia as the Kremlin refused to put a timeline on ceasefire talks with Ukraine.
The UK’s Foreign Office said a total of 100 further sanctions will target Russia’s military, energy and financial sectors.
The new measures will target the supply chains of Russian weapons systems, including Iskander missiles, Kremlin-funded information operations, financial institutions that help Russia evade sanctions and ships in the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.
The Foreign Office said Vladimir Putin had repeatedly fired Iskander missiles into crowded civilian areas “with a callous disregard for life”, including on 13 April in Sumy when 34 civilians, including children, were killed as some headed to Palm Sunday services.
Similarly, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said an 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia is already being worked on.
“It’s time to intensify the pressure on Russia to bring about the ceasefire,” she said on X, after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
These new sanctions are being imposed to ratchet up pressure on Mr Putin after Russia fired 273 drones at Ukrainian cities on Saturday, the biggest drone attack since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Image: Firefighters put out a fire after Russia carried out its biggest drone attack in Ukraine. Pic: AP
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Putin’s latest strikes once again show his true colours as a warmonger.
“We urge him to agree a full, unconditional ceasefire right away so there can be talks on a just and lasting peace.
“We have been clear that delaying peace efforts will only redouble our resolve to help Ukraine to defend itself and use our sanctions to restrict Putin’s war machine.”
Putin-Trump call portrayed as battle for the US president’s affections
The mood in Russia is upbeat, bordering on triumphant, following Monday’s phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
“The tone of the conversation was excellent,” crows the headline in the newspaper Argumenty i Fakty, quoting the American president’s assessment of the conversation.
Trump has “accepted the Russian formula” of “negotiations first, ceasefire after”, the paper brags.
Another, Komsomolskaya Pravda, runs with Putin’s description of the call as their main headline: “We are on the right track”.
According to the pro-Kremlin paper, Trump’s approach shows the United States “is not going to indulge [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and Europe”.
Much of the coverage portrays the call as a battle for Trump’s affections, with Russia emerging victorious despite the influence of “Western hawks”.
“[Trump] did not heed their requests,” says Argumenty i Fakty, referring to Europe’s calls for tougher sanctions.
Following Donald Trump’s two-hour call with Mr Putin on Monday, the US president said Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations for a ceasefire; however, the Kremlin gave no timeline despite Mr Zelenskyy agreeing to one months ago.
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2:17
Analysis: The Trump-Putin call
New British sanctions have also been placed on 14 more members of the Social Design Agency (SDA), which carries out Kremlin-funded information operations to undermine sovereignty, democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine and across the world.
The UK had previously sanctioned the SDA and several of its leaders last year, but all levels of the organisation are now being targeted.
Image: Russian servicemen training in Ukraine. Pic: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
Another 46 financial institutions that help Russia evade sanctions have also been targeted.
Sanctions have also been placed on a further 18 ships, following 110 earlier this month, in Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which carry Russian oil under different flags (often Liberian) to continue shipping oil around the world despite sanctions that have placed a price cap on Russian oil.
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John Ormerod, a British national who procured ships for Russia’s shadow fleet has been sanctioned, and two Russian captains of shadow fleet tankers.
The UK and Western allies are looking to lower the price cap of Russian crude oil from $60 a barrel to prevent profits from being used to fund the war.
Image: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in 2018. File pic: Reuters
The Foreign Office said UK and other Western sanctions have severely hit Russia’s economy, with its GDP shrinking in the first quarter of the year and the non-defence economy in recession for some time.
It said security and defence spending now accounts for more than 40% of Russia’s federal budget, with Mr Putin raising taxes and cutting social spending to continue the war.
Although close to Russia geographically – less than three miles away at the narrowest point – it’s a very long way from neutral ground.
The expectation was they would meet somewhere in the middle. Saudi Arabia perhaps, or the United Arab Emirates. But no, Vladimir Putin will be travelling to Donald Trump’s backyard.
It’ll be the first time the Russian president has visited the US since September 2015, when he spoke at the UN General Assembly. Barack Obama was in the White House. How times have changed a decade on.
The US is not a member of the International Criminal Court, so there’s no threat of arrest for Vladimir Putin.
But to allow his visit to happen, the US Treasury Department will presumably have to lift sanctions on the Kremlin leader, as it did when his investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev flew to Washington in April.
And I think that points to one reason why Putin would agree to a summit in Alaska.
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Instead of imposing sanctions on Russia, as Trump had threatened in recent days, the US would be removing one. Even if only temporary, it would be hugely symbolic and a massive victory for Moscow.
The American leader might think he owns the optics – the peace-making president ordering a belligerent aggressor to travel to his home turf – but the visuals more than work for Putin too.
Shunned by the West since his invasion, this would signal an emphatic end to his international isolation.
Donald Trump has said a ceasefire deal is close. The details are still unclear but there are reports it could involve Ukraine surrendering territory, something Volodymyr Zelenskyy has always adamantly opposed.
Either way, Putin will have what he wants – the chance to carve up his neighbour without Kyiv being at the table.
And that’s another reason why Putin would agree to a summit, regardless of location. Because it represents a real possibility of achieving his goals.
It’s not just about territory for Russia. It also wants permanent neutrality for Ukraine and limits to its armed forces – part of a geopolitical strategy to prevent NATO expansion.
In recent months, despite building US pressure, Moscow has shown no intention of stopping the war until those demands are met.
It may be that Vladimir Putin thinks a summit with Donald Trump offers the best chance of securing them.
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The UK and four allies have criticised Israel’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza – warning it will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the territory.
The foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand said in a joint statement that the offensive will “endanger the lives of hostages” and “risk violating international humanitarian law”.
It marks another escalation in the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.
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2:20
Can Netanyahu defeat Hamas ideology?
In their joint statement, the UK and its allies said they “strongly reject” the decision, adding: “It will endanger the lives of the hostages and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.
“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”
The countries also called for a permanent ceasefire as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza”.
In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office added: “Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.”
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2:33
Inside plane dropping aid over Gaza
US ambassador hits out at Starmer
Earlier on Friday, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said Israel’s decision to “escalate its offensive” in Gaza is “wrong”.
Mr Huckabee wrote on X: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”
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In another post around an hour later Mr Huckabee wrote: “How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza?
“@IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages.”
Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.
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1:22
Lammy-Vance bromance: Will it last?
Mr Vance described a “disagreement” about how the US and UK could achieve their “common objectives” in the Middle East, and said the Trump administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”.
He said: “I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”
Mr Vance added: “There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation.”
The UN Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.
Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said earlier on Friday that a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.