UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain does not support a reported agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin under which the US would purchase millions of tonnes of diesel from Russia.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House, Streeting argued that the deal runs counter to efforts to pressure Moscow to end its war in Ukraine. He said the US and allied nations should instead focus on "increasing pressure on Russia to shorten the war and to secure Ukraine's freedom."
Trump's stated aim for the diesel agreement is to lower fuel prices in America, which have risen following US and Israeli military actions against Iran, according to the source material.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the agreement would allow Moscow to raise funds for new military equipment to continue fighting. In response, Trump said Ukraine should "get a new leader" capable of reaching a deal with Russia to end the conflict.
Streeting said the choice of Ukraine's leader was for Ukrainians to make but praised Zelensky as someone of "calibre, his courage and his integrity." He placed responsibility for the war "squarely and solely with President Putin and his imperialist ambitions."
Conservative shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith also criticized both Trump's call for Zelensky to step down and the diesel deal itself, saying it "sends out all the wrong messages" and that "if you want a peaceful world, you don't do that sort of deal."
Streeting also announced that the UK plans defence spending on the assumption Russia could attack NATO by 2030. He said the government would use the coming Budget to address a £4.7 billion funding gap in the Defence Investment Plan and would set out a path toward spending 3.5% of national income on defence by 2035 at next year's Spending Review. He declined to commit to 3% spending by 2030 without detailing how it would be funded, citing concerns about market confidence and borrowing costs.