Tag: 2026

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 12 June 2026.

Politico-Military Counsellor, Ankur Narayan, highlights E3 leaders’ reaffirmation of unwavering support for Ukraine’s defence, underscores the unsustainability of Russia’s war effort in the face of mounting casualties and minimal territorial gains, condemns continued Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, and calls on Russia to agree an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

On 7 June, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany met President Zelenskyy in London and reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s illegal invasion and set out the conditions for a just and lasting peace. Ukraine’s is a State that is serious about ending this war. A war remember that it never wanted in the first place. It has consistently demonstrated its readiness to pursue peace through diplomatic means, including by agreeing to a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.

Russia is not serious about peace, as has been the case throughout the war. Most recently, at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last week, President Putin dismissed proposals for direct engagement. Russia continues to refuse a ceasefire and continues to call for Ukraine to withdraw from its own internationally-recognised territory. This land is Ukraine, not Russia. It is no coincidence that it contains the ‘Fortress Belt’ of cities vital for Ukraine’s defence; demands that they hand these over are effectively a demand for Ukraine’s surrender.

While Russia demands that Ukraine withdraws from its sovereign territory, it is facing increasing setbacks on the battlefield. Still suffering 30,000 casualties a month, up to half of which are fatalities, Russia’s battlefield advances have slowed to a crawl. And Ukraine has demonstrated its continued ability to counterattack, as we have seen recently in Stepnohirsk. Having suffered 420,000 casualties to only occupy an additional 0.8% of Ukraine in 2025, Russia is on track to match these record casualty rates for an even smaller gain in 2026. Occupying less than 19.5% of Ukraine at the cost of 1.3 million casualties so far, this rate of loss will become increasingly unsustainable the longer Putin pursues this illegal invasion. As the United Kingdom said at the Permanent Council a fortnight ago, this is not to gloat at such tragic figures, it is to point out the utter futility of continuing this war as if it can be won.

Russia has failed to take by force the Ukrainian land that it asks Ukraine to withdraw from through negotiations. Meanwhile, Russia continues to intensify its attacks, injuring and killing Ukrainian civilians. May saw the most drones fired into Ukraine since the invasion began, and the highest reported civilian casualty figures since April 2022. Regrettably, June looks set to continue this trend, with over 2,400 drones and 77 missiles fired between the 1st and 9th, killing 98 civilians and injuring over 680 more. The mass attack on the night of 1–2 June saw the largest ballistic and hypersonic missile strike of the entire war. The international community has condemned these attacks, including the repeated reckless use of Oreshnik nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missiles, on Ukrainian cities, as well as irresponsible and dangerous Russian drone incursions into NATO territory. This is the conduct of a state compensating for failure on the battlefield with violence against the people of Ukraine.

Russia’s maximalist demands, coupled with its rejection of a full and unconditional ceasefire and the intensifying violence that is harming civilians, stand in clear contradiction to its commitments under the Helsinki Final Act, including respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the peaceful settlement of disputes, as well as to its broader obligations under international law. Russia is neither engaging seriously in negotiations nor acknowledging the hard realities on the ground.

The path to peace has been clearly set out, by Ukraine, by the E3 leaders in London, and by partners across the international community. Russia can choose to take it at any time, by agreeing to an immediate, unconditional and complete ceasefire and engaging meaningfully in negotiations. The United Kingdom will continue to support Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence, to maintain pressure on the Kremlin, and to act in solidarity with Ukraine and with partners in this Forum.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 12 June 2026.

Ms Belinda Lewis has been selected to become the next Governor of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in succession to Mr Nigel Phillips CBE, who will be retiring from the Diplomatic Service. Ms Lewis will take up her appointment during September 2026.

Curriculum vitae

Full name: Belinda Lewis 

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 10 June 2026.

Delivered to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors meeting on June 2026.

I thank the Director General for his sobering report, and for the continued professionalism and courage of IAEA staff on the ground. Their presence remains indispensable in reducing risks and providing independent, credible reporting under extraordinarily difficult conditions. 

The report points to a progressively degrading operating environment across Ukraine’s nuclear sites. However, developments since its issuance underscore that these risks are not static. They are worsening. 

It is Russia’s illegal invasion and ongoing aggression against Ukraine that has created these conditions, forcing the Agency into the role of negotiating military pauses around nuclear facilities.  

Chair, we are deeply alarmed by the recent drone strike against the Centralised Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility at Chornobyl. That a strike of this nature could occur without immediate radiological consequences should not reassure us; it underlines how narrow the safety margins have become, and how dependent they now are on circumstance rather than control. 

This facility sits within a vast exclusion zone, well outside any immediate military necessity. Striking nuclear infrastructure in such an environment is not coincidence – it is reckless and wilful irresponsibility. 

This is reinforced by the detail of the Director General’s report: persistent and widespread military activity across all of Ukraine’s nuclear sites, including ZNPP; ongoing grid instability; attacks on energy infrastructure; and repeated reliance on emergency systems to compensate for those failures. 

The sheer volume of incidents is striking: 

• One power line to Rivne NPP remained disconnected throughout the reporting period following earlier military damage; 
• On 26 February, Chornobyl NPP lost off-site power, while Khmelnytskyy (and South Ukraine NPP each lost an off-site power line; 
• On 14 March, Chornobyl experienced a prolonged disconnection requiring activation of emergency diesel generators; 
• At ZNPP, continued reliance on a single power line and repeated losses of off-site power on 14, 16 and 26 April, and 28 May. 

This brings the total number of LOOP events at ZNPP to sixteen since the start of the conflict. 

Chair, these incidents do not need to result in an immediate radiological release to be serious: each loss of off-site power and each disruption to grid stability further erodes defence-in-depth and reduces the safety margins on which secure nuclear operations depend. 

IAEA reports of a drone strike on the turbine hall at ZNPP further demonstrate how even incidents without immediate radiological impact contribute to worsening risk environment driven by Russia’s illegal invasion. 

We commend the Director General for his sustained efforts to broker temporary ceasefire arrangements to enable critical repair work at ZNPP. These are important and necessary measures to reduce immediate nuclear risk. 

However, let me be clear: we should not be in this position at all. 

The simplest way to reduce nuclear risk is for Russia to cease its aggression and withdraw from Ukraine. Nothing less will deliver the conditions required for safe and secure nuclear operations. 

Thank you.

The press release issued by the Foreign Office on 11 June 2026.

Joint Statement by the Foreign Minister of Australia and the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom on Technology Facilitated Gender-Based Violence.

We, the Foreign Minister of Australia and Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, reaffirm our shared commitment to end all forms of gender-based violence. Protecting against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment – including in development, humanitarian and peacekeeping contexts – is a cornerstone of our foreign policy.

Gender-based violence remains a pervasive human rights abuse, experienced by one in three women globally. This widespread violence has profound social and economic costs, estimated at around USD1.5 trillion – two per cent of global GDP – each year.

As digital technologies reshape our societies, these harms are being replicated and amplified online. Men and boys are increasingly engaging with misogynistic content that normalises and promotes gender-based violence.

Technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence is a national security threat. It is increasingly linked to the exploitation of online spaces to spread harmful norms, coordinate abuse, and undermine democratic institutions and women’s social, political and economic participation and gender equality gains. These actions present risks to social cohesion and national security.

In response, Australia and the United Kingdom are intensifying our efforts to ensure that all women and girls are safe from gender-based violence, and to ensure that perpetrators – online and offline – are held to account. In May, the United Kingdom and Australia came together to launch a new International Coalition to End Violence against Women and Girls, in partnership with six other countries to drive sustained attention and action at national, regional and international levels.

Two years on from signing the Australia-UK Memorandum of Understanding to Collaborate on Ending Gender-based Violence, together, we reaffirm our commitment to its full implementation, including through:

• Prevention and addressing the root causes of violence, including through evidence-based action to challenge harmful norms, behaviours and systems that enable violence against women and girls in all contexts.
• Holding perpetrators to account and supporting victim-survivors, including strengthening justice responses, improving access to services, and ensuring survivor-centred approaches across both offline and online settings.
• Coordinated international advocacy to drive a more concerted collective response, including through joint leadership in multilateral fora and initiatives such as the International Coalition to End Violence against Women, the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, and the upcoming Violence Against Women and Girls Summit, to mobilise greater ambition, alignment and accountability.

Together, we will also strengthen our collaboration on online safety, working to drive renewed international momentum to address the online and technology-facilitated abuse of women and children. This includes addressing some of the most prevalent and fast-growing harms such as non-consensual intimate image abuse, which is increasingly facilitated by generative AI. We will work with partners to align standards, promote safety-by-design and scale proven solutions. Practical actions include piloting and securing endorsements for the Preliminary Model National Framework for Non-Consensual Intimate Images (NCII), working together through the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, and launching a new round of the Tech Safety Showcase in partnership with UNFPA.

These efforts align with and advance the objectives of the 2024 Australia-UK Memorandum of Understanding on Online Safety and Security and reinforce our shared commitment to a safer digital environment for all.

Australia and the United Kingdom remain deeply committed to working together – across both foreign and domestic policy – to ensure all women and girls can live free from gender-based violence.