17OCT

Burnham fast-tracks £10m of UK missiles

2 min read

17:43UTC

Andy Burnham sped up part of a £45m British air-defence missile delivery as Zelenskyy visited London on 14 October, and his ministers pushed allies to target Russian gas shipping.

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ConflictDeveloping

Key takeaway

Britain is speeding missiles to Kyiv and pushing allies to cut Russian gas off from shipping services.

Britain will speed up a planned £45m delivery of surface-to-air missiles used against Russia's jet-powered drones, fast-tracking £10m of it⁠¹. Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced it when Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited London on 14 October. Zelenskyy was also due to meet King Charles III. The visit builds on the security and defence industrial declaration Keir Starmer signed with Zelenskyy in London in March.

Britain's foreign and finance ministers are lobbying allies to ban maritime services for Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports⁠². A services ban works like the oil price cap. It hits the insurers, financiers and shipowners who carry the trade, many of them in London, and leaves the gas itself legal to buy. The EU began phasing out its own Russian LNG imports in April; a services ban would also reach cargoes bound for buyers outside Europe.

Burnham said in a statement before the meeting, "we are with you for as long as it takes", and asked officials to draw up more sanctions, military aid and fiscal support⁠³. His pledge came two days before Donald Trump waived the Graham Act's tariffs on Russia's oil buyers.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Britain's new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, met President Zelenskyy in London on 14 October. He promised to speed up missiles that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones. Britain also wants its allies to stop their companies from shipping, insuring or financing Russian liquefied gas. Many of those companies are based in London, so British rules would reach a large share of the trade.

What could happen next?

Opportunity
A services ban on Russian gas would reach cargoes bound for Asia as well as Europe.

Source Landscape

This story draws on mixed-leaning sources from Malaysia

Malaysia

LeftRight

Primary parallel: The G7 oil price cap of December 2022 used the same lever. It barred Western insurers, financiers and shippers from carrying Russian crude sold above $60 a barrel, without banning the oil itself.

Counter-parallel: The United States sanctioned Russia's Arctic LNG 2 project in November 2023, yet the project shipped cargoes to China in August 2025 on carriers outside Western services. A services ban only works where the shipping still depends on Western firms.

Much Russian liquefied natural gas still moves on vessels insured through Western markets. The International Group of P&I Clubs, many of them run from London, covers about 87% of the world's ocean-going tonnage, which is the reach a British-led ban would use.

The weak point sits in the ships. Russia's Arctic exports need ice-class carriers that few yards can build, so a ban that also reaches their crews, charters and repair yards would bite harder than an insurance ban alone.

Sources:The Star (Reuters)·The Star (Reuters)

Mentions:Andy Burnham →United Kingdom →Volodymyr Zelenskyy →London →Russian LNG →Keir Starmer →Russia →Donald Trump →Ukraine →China →United States →

First Reported In

Update #29 · Trump waives his own 500% Russia tariffs

The Star (Reuters)· 17 Oct 2026

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Different Perspectives

Bulgarian government

Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Rumen Radev, said the sinking of HS Dignity "benefits the Russian Federation" while saying Bulgaria lacked solid evidence to accuse anyone, and Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov asked NATO for air defence on 16 October. The request comes from a government that stopped state military aid to Ukraine in June.

Radoslaw Sikorski

Poland's foreign minister challenged Elon Musk on X after SpaceX capped Ukraine's Starshield terminals on 14 October. Poland pays about $50m a year for Ukraine's Starlink subscriptions, so Warsaw speaks as the paying customer as well as the ally.

Andy Burnham

Burnham fast-tracked £10m of a £45m air-defence missile delivery when Zelenskyy visited London on 14 October, and his ministers are lobbying allies to ban maritime services for Russian liquefied natural gas. The measure targets insurers and shipowners, many of them in London, rather than the gas itself.

Ministry of External Affairs (India)

India's foreign ministry said after the 16 September House vote that New Delhi would take all necessary measures to protect its trade.

European Council

EU leaders on 15-16 October rejected a US idea to hand Washington the roughly €200bn of frozen Russian assets held in Europe, and Kaja Kallas said the decision belongs to Europeans. The same summit put off a decision on financing Ukraine, saying leaders "will revert to the issue in a timely manner".

Donald Trump

Trump signed the 16 October order that sets the Graham Act's duties and waives them under section 115(a), with a certification sent to Congress. He says the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine, and on 11 October he said both sides had agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.