Keir Starmer accused President Vladimir Putin of disrupting food supplies to Gaza after British intelligence suggested Russia was stepping up attacks on Ukrainian ports.
Mr Starmer said it was clear the Russian president was “going to gamble on global food security” after several grain ships en route to developing countries were damaged in Russian attacks.
Military intelligence released by the British government overnight concluded that Russia is stepping up attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure in the Black Sea.
According to intelligence assessments, at least four commercial vessels were hit by Russian bullets between October 5 and 14. The airstrike is believed to have delayed a ship carrying vegetable oil destined for the Palestinian World Food Program.
A ship carrying grain bound for Egypt, two ships carrying corn, and WFP cargo bound for southern Africa were also affected, and in some cases became collateral damage in port infrastructure strikes.
“Russia's indiscriminate attacks on Black Sea ports highlight President Putin's readiness to gamble on global food security in an effort to bring Ukraine to its knees,” the prime minister said in a statement.
“In doing so, he seeks to gain the upper hand in a barbaric war that harms millions of vulnerable people in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.”
In a meeting with British-Palestinian families on Tuesday, Mr Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Lyner were asked to draw up an evacuation and resettlement plan and take tougher measures to limit Israeli aid to Gaza.
Health officials in the northern Gaza Strip have warned they are running low on supplies to treat patients as Israel resumes a three-week offensive.
Palestinian families have called for British personnel to be stationed at border posts in the Gaza Strip to ensure tests are carried out quickly and aid flows unrestricted.
Israel said aid has increased since the US government warned in a leaked letter earlier this month that arms supplies would be limited unless 300 aid trucks a day entered Gaza. . In mid-October, the United Nations announced that aid shipments to the conflict zone were at their lowest level in months.
The Biden administration has complained of delays in U.S. funding at transit points to the Gaza Strip, saying the flow of goods has fallen by more than 50% since March last year, when Israel promised to allow more shipments.
Meanwhile, the British government this week announced a £2.26 billion loan to Ukraine, to be paid for with interest accumulated on sanctioned Russian government assets. This forms part of the commitments the UK made at the G7 summit in June.
Russia's attacks on commercial ships coincide with Ukraine's harvest season. Ukraine's food and grain exports, mainly via the Black Sea, have fallen to pre-war levels this year after Kiev introduced a special transport corridor along its west coast and pushed back the Russian surface fleet with a series of bold drone strikes. had almost recovered.
Before the war, Ukraine was the world's seventh largest exporter of wheat, much of it to Middle Eastern countries, and the largest producer of sunflower oil and supplier of other important food products. But Russia has repeatedly attempted a maritime blockade to squeeze Ukraine's economy.
Mr Starmer said Russia was “intensifying its attacks on areas of Ukraine that support the Global South with much-needed food”.
“Russia does not respect the norms and laws that govern our international system,” the prime minister said. “Not only is their illegal invasion a blatant attack on the principles of the United Nations Charter, but the way they waged the war in Ukraine shows no respect for human life or the consequences of their invasions around the world.”
The British government has announced that British factories will begin producing gun barrels for Ukraine from 2027 as part of a broader agreement between Britain and Germany.
The factory, run by Germany's Rheinmetall, will use steel from the UK and support 400 jobs, marking the first time in 10 years that gun barrels will be manufactured in the UK.
