UK to Supply Ukraine with £210 Million Enriched Uranium for Two Years

Britain will supply enriched uranium to Ukraine's nuclear plants for the next two years, a £210 million ($282 million) deal announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of a G7 session in Évian, France, on June 16. The arrangement, funded by UK Export Finance, enables British company Urenco to supply Ukraine's state operator, Energoatom.

This pledge strengthens Ukraine's power generation capability as Russia continues to strike its grid, aiming to power Ukraine through future winters. Ukraine severed its reliance on Russian nuclear fuel after the February 2022 invasion; nuclear power now generates approximately half the country's electricity across 15 reactors. Starmer and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finalized the deal last week at Downing Street.

The fuel deal coincided with new UK sanctions targeting Russia's oil trade, increasing the number of shadow fleet vessels under UK restrictions to nearly 600. These sanctions also identify financial systems that circumvent existing measures to fund Russian weapons purchases. This follows Britain's first independent boarding of a shadow fleet vessel, the Cameroon-flagged tanker Smyrtos, in the English Channel on June 14.