UK PM Boris Johnson

UK PM Boris Johnson said Thursday that the West “must send new weapons to Ukraine, expand curbs on international payments and target Russia’s gold reserves.”

Johnson told broadcasters before a NATO and G7 summits in Brussels, “We’ve got to step up, we’ve got to increase our support, we’ve got to tighten the economic vice around Putin, sanctioning more people today as we are, sanctioning the Wagner Group.”

In a related context, UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said late Wednesday that Britain would send 6,000 missiles, consisting of anti-tank and high explosive weapons, and $33 million in supplies to Ukraine’s military. Furthermore, officials said he would beg European leaders to increase lethal supplies immediately.

Johnson stated that there were several options for further squeezing the Russian economy and bolstering Ukraine's defenses.

“We need to do more, and so we need to do more economically. Can we do more to stop him [Putin] using his gold reserves, for instance, in addition to his cash reserves?” he told reporters. “The more pressure we apply now, particularly on things like gold, I believe the more we can shorten the war … And then we need to do more to give the Ukrainians military support.”

Before the summit, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss announced a new round of sanctions most notably against defense companies and six new banks.

Newly sanctioned individuals include Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Tinkoff bank; Sergei Lavrov's stepdaughter Polina Kovaleva; and Galina Danilchenko, who was installed by Russia as mayor of Melitopol.