Downing Street said on 20 May 2026 that Sir Keir Starmer had spoken with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and had restated the UK's support for Ukraine. The official readout linked the call directly to measures announced on 19 May, with the Prime Minister presenting sanctions pressure as part of a wider effort to weaken Russia's war economy and reduce Russian oil revenues. (gov.uk) In Policy Wire terms, the significance of the call is not the diplomacy alone. It came alongside a live change to the UK sanctions regime, meaning the statement was paired with new compliance duties for importers, traders and service providers from 20 May 2026. (gov.uk)
The Department for Business and Trade's updated Notice to Importers 2953 says the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 were made on 19 May and took effect on 20 May 2026. The notice says the amendment added prohibitions on the import and acquisition of uranium, the supply and delivery of uranium from Russia to third countries, and the import of oil products processed in a third country from Russian crude. (gov.uk) DBT also says the rules extend beyond the goods themselves. Technical assistance, financial services, funds and brokering services connected to those uranium and processed-oil transactions are now restricted as well, so the package applies to financiers, brokers and other trade intermediaries as well as importers. (gov.uk)
On oil, the government has targeted what its own guidance describes as a route by which Russian crude could enter the UK via third-country refining. The 19 May guidance says relevant products are oil products under commodity code 2710 that have been processed in a third country from Russian crude oil under code 2709, and it says the ban was introduced to stop Russian oil arriving through that route. (gov.uk) The compliance burden is practical and immediate. DBT guidance says importers may need supplier or refinery attestations and, where a refinery cannot segregate Russian crude from other crude, evidence that no Russian crude has been received or processed there in the previous 60 days. HMRC may ask for that evidence at the border or later, although imports from the EU, Canada, Norway, the USA, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand and net crude exporters face lighter documentary requirements at the frontier. (gov.uk)
The same 19 May package is not a simple blanket ban. DBT issued General Trade Licence GBSAN0004 permitting the import into the UK of certain otherwise prohibited diesel and jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian crude, together with certain related services. (gov.uk) That licence comes with conditions. Government guidance says traders using it must keep records, notify the Secretary of State within 30 days of first use, and make customs declarations using the specified code and licence number; the guidance also says the licence may be varied, suspended or revoked. In practical terms, that points to a managed controls model rather than an immediate shut-off of every downstream fuel flow. (gov.uk)
Uranium is the other substantive change flagged in the updated importer notice. DBT says the new rules prohibit the import and acquisition of uranium connected with Russia, its supply and delivery from Russia to third countries, and the related financing and brokering activities. (gov.uk) There is, however, a narrow continuity mechanism. The same notice says Regulation 60K creates an exception for uranium needed for the continued operation of a nuclear installation in a third country that was already operational on 20 May 2026, and for certain uranium exported from Russia before that date and stored in a third country. Separately, HMRC's tariff bulletin published on 19 May says new legislation introduced further sanctions on goods, technology and funding that could support Russia's war, with new import controls for tariff chapters 27 and 28 from 20 May and export restrictions across a wider set of chapters already reflected in the tariff system. (gov.uk)
The call also sits inside a broader UK-Ukraine policy framework. The March 2026 UK-Ukraine Strategic Dialogue states that both governments will maintain sustained economic pressure on Russia through stronger sanctions cooperation and further action on the shadow fleet, while the March defence declaration recalls the One Hundred Year Partnership signed on 16 January 2025 and other bilateral security commitments. (gov.uk) Set against that background, Downing Street's 20 May readout reads as continuity rather than a standalone announcement. The immediate policy effect is that sanctions pressure is being restated at leader level at the same time as the legal machinery has changed for oil products, uranium and related services, with HMRC and DBT guidance now central to how firms demonstrate compliance. (gov.uk)