24.Lammy, who took over as British Foreign Secretary in July 2024, has consistently reiterated his country's support for Ukraine and condemned Russia's attacks against Ukrainian civilians and violations of international law.Lammy criticized Putin's actions regarding the invasion of Ukraine, recalling the days of slavery, and accused the Russian government of flouting international law, while claiming to be defending the so-called Global South."Your invasion is in your own interests," he said, addressing Putin. "Yours alone. To expand your mafia state into a mafia empire. An empire built on corruption.""Mr. President (Putin), I speak not only as a Briton, as a Londoner, and as a foreign secretary. ""But I say to the Russian representative (in the U.N. Security Council), on his phone as I speak, that I stand here also as a Black man whose ancestors were taken in chains from Africa, at the barrel of a gun to be enslaved, whose ancestors rose up and fought in a great rebellion of the enslaved," Lammy added.U.K.