"We are in a better position". Starmer assesses the impact of new US sanctions against Russia on Ukraine

Prime minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer said that the prospects for Ukraine are improving after US president Donald Trump imposed sanctions against the Russian oil sector. The politician told about it in an interview with by Bloomberg.

"We’re in a better place. Last week there were really significant developments," Starmer said.

He noted that the biggest achievement of the partners would be what they have done regarding sanctions.

"We [the UK] sanctioned all oil majors, president Trump then sanctioned the two oil majors and the EU came out with their latest package all within the space of a few days. That’s had a profound impact on Russia’s economy ," the PM explained.

He said that on October 26 he had a call with Trump about pressuring China to stop buying Russian oil, as it is important to continue efforts to put the Russian economy in a difficult position.

Trump is scheduled to meet with China's leader Xi Jinping on October 30, one of the topics of which will be the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Starmer also noted that while he was "struck last week by the fact that India and China also reduced their dependencies" on Moscow, his message to Beijing is as follows: "Everybody needs to stop buying Russian oil."

In addition, he said that he had discussed with Trump the transfer of long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Separately, the British PM called on European partners to speed up decision-making on the use of frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine. The politician argued that in combination with sanctions, this could demonstrate to the dictator Vladimir Putin the Western support for Kyiv will last longer than the Russian economy will be able to sustain the war.

"Russia’s economy is definitely being damaged quite significantly and that’s why we need to keep working on the sanctions. That is my assessment that is also the assessment of the EU," Starmer said.

• Meanwhile, president Zelenskiy said that new U.S. sanctions against Russian oil giants could reduce oil exports by 50%.