Five of the world’s major nations supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion are forming a working alliance to try to end Russia’s expanding sales of nuclear fuel around the world, according to a statement from the British government.

The announcement of the move by the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France and Canada came after an agreement was reached over the weekend by energy ministers at a Group of 7 meeting in Sapporo, Japan.

“This agreement will be used as the basis for pushing Putin out of the nuclear fuel market entirely, and doing so as quickly as possible, to cut off another means for him to fund his barbaric attack on Ukraine and fundamentally leave Russia out in the cold,” Britain’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said on Sunday  in a statement , referring to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

It said that the five nations “will leverage the respective resources and capabilities of each country’s civil nuclear power sectors to undermine Russia’s grip on supply chains” and “support the stable supply of fuels for the needs of today, as well as guarantee the safe and secure development and deployment of fuels for the advanced reactors of tomorrow.”

It did not provide further details. The statement noted that there was a growing urgency in cutting Russia out of uranium fuel supply chains since more of the world is turning to nuclear power to transition away from high-carbon energy sources.

While European countries have moved to slash their dependence on Russian oil and gas since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, Russia’s overall oil export revenue has not suffered. And a  recent report   showed that Moscow’s nuclear fuel exports also have actually increased overall since 2022. Russia has exported just over $1 billion-worth of nuclear energy-related goods and materials since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to the February report from the Royal United Services Institute in London.

The meeting of energy ministers took place in parallel to a Group of 7 meeting of foreign ministers in Karuizawa, Japan.

On Monday, the foreign ministers held a session on Ukraine. A summary of the meeting released by Japan’s foreign ministry said that the ministers had all agreed to “remain committed to intensifying, fully coordinating and enforcing sanctions against Russia.”