After royal funeral, new UK leader Truss makes debut at UN

LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss is going from the solemnity of a royal funeral to the maelstrom of international politics, and a crucial meeting with President Joe Biden.

Britain’s prime minister flew to New York on Monday for the United Nations General Assembly, coming straight from the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, whose death and commemoration have dominated the start of the new leader’s term.

Truss won a Conservative Party leadership contest early this month and was appointed prime minister by the queen on Sept. 6, just two days before the monarch died.

The war in Ukraine will be foremost in Truss’s message when she makes her debut speech to the U.N. as British leader on Wednesday, urging more support for Kyiv and calling on nations to stop buying Russian oil and gas.

“Too many lives — in Ukraine, in Europe and around the world — are being manipulated by a dependence on Russian energy,” Truss said in a statement released by her office. She accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dooming “millions of people in Europe to a colder and more difficult winter” by squeezing gas supplies.

Britain imports little oil and gas from Russia compared to other European nations, but has been hit by soaring global energy prices, spurring a cost-of-living crisis that is Truss’ most pressing domestic challenge.

She has announced plans to expand North Sea oil and gas drilling and lift a ban on fracking to reduce U.K. dependence on imported fuel. Environmentalists accuse her of backpedaling on predecessor Boris Johnson’s firm commitment to reduce U.K. carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

Spokesman Max Blain insisted that Truss “is committed to net zero,” but that getting there “does involve using transition fuels like oil and gas.”

The U.K. has been one of the biggest contributors after...