Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended an extraordinary meeting in London today (19 July), where Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his cabinet strategised fresh measures to disrupt Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’.

“I won’t allow Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers, and the dirty money it generates, to flow freely through European waters and put our security at risk”, Starmer said.

The Ukrainian premier became the first foreign leader to visit Downing Street since Starmer’s Labour Party won the UK elections on 4 July – and the first foreign leader to address cabinet in person since US President Bill Clinton visited Tony Blair in 1997.

Yesterday (18 July), the UK placed sanctions on eleven more oil tankers. Three are believed to be part of the shadow fleet, while eight are owned by Russia’s state-run oil tanker business, Sovcomflot PJSC, according to the UK’s updated sanctions list.

The sanctions follow a day of intense discussions in Oxfordshire, where Starmer and Zelensky were joined by French President Emmanual Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and more than 40 other European premiers – who all reportedly agreed to a ‘crackdown’ on the shadow fleet.

Zelensky also visited Lancaster House, home to the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), where he met representatives of UK defence companies.

The UK confirmed support of $3bn a year for Ukraine’s war effort, as well as a new package of ammunition, anti-armour missiles and artillery guns.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said deals such as an agreement with BAE Systems to maintain and repair UK-supplied weapons in Ukraine and an arrangement with Sheffield Forgemasters to support the repair and overhaul of Ukrainian vehicles would help both Ukrainian and British armed forces secure the equipment they needed.

Russia’s money-spinning, sanctions-dodging ‘shadow fleet’

Russia’s shadow fleet is made up of around 600 vessels and represents approximately 10% of the global ‘wet cargo’ fleet, according to a Downing Street statement released late last night (18 July).

The shadow fleet carries approximately 1.7 million barrels of oil each day, generating significant funds to fuel Russia’s war machine.

Some vessels are also ‘alleged to double as Russian listening stations’, Downing Street said, while others transport arms to Moscow.

The name shadow fleet (or dark fleet) comes from the practice of ‘going dark’ – intentionally disabling a ship’s automatic identification system (AIS).

While not technically illegal, deactivating an AIS is strongly associated with underhand motives as it allows ships to move untracked.

There has been a marked step-up in rhetoric and plans to ‘crack down’ on the shadow fleet recently, even as tangible action remains limited.

Last month, Denmark’s Foreign Ministry said naval authorities would begin targeting the fleet carrying sanctioned Russian oil through the Baltic Sea and Danish Straits.

European governments including Denmark's are also concerned that these tankers, which are often old and insured outside of Western nations, could be damaging the local environment. Most lack oil spill insurance, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.