Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized an easing of sanctions on Russian energy, writing on X that “every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war.”
His statement on April 19 comes after the United States prolonged its Russian oil waiver earlier in the week with figures showing that Moscow nearly doubled its oil revenue in March amid soaring energy prices as Iran continues to disrupt shipping on the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Zelenskyy claimed that more than 110 tankers from Russia’s shadow fleet are currently at sea, carrying over 12 million tons of Russian oil worth $10 billion.
He added that “the continued easing of sanctions against Russia does not reflect the real situation in the war or in diplomacy and fuels the Russian leadership’s illusion that they can continue the war.”
Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched more than 2,360 attack drones, 1,320 guided bombs, and nearly 60 missiles over the past week.
The latest attacks included an overnight strike on Chernihiv that killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded four others, local officials said on April 19.
“It is important that Russian tankers are stopped, not allowed to deliver oil to ports,” Zelenskyy said in his X post. “The aggressor’s oil exports must decrease, and Ukraine’s long-range sanctions continue to work toward that goal.”
While the West has set a global cap on trade with Russian seaborne petroleum products, Russia has managed to circumvent this with its so-called shadow fleet of vessels — often with murky ownership and insurance structures — which continues to trade the products.
Figures show that revenues from Russian exports of both crude and refined oil products reached $19 billion in March — up from $9.7 billion in February.
On April 17, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) authorized a new sanctions waiver on Russian oil running through May 16, which replaced a previous license that expired on April 11.
While the latest waiver only applies to oil already loaded onto ships, the new extension came as a surprise as the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had earlier dismissed the idea that a prolongation was forthcoming.
The EU has also failed to impose more sanctions on Russian oil.
New measures were proposed in January which would include a maritime services ban related to Russian petroleum products. This would prohibit EU-based companies from providing services to any vessel transporting these products from Russian ports. There was also a push to completely phase out of Russian oil imports earlier than the current target of December 2027.
No unanimity among EU member states has been reached on this, however, partly due to energy price surges as Iran has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz for over a month — sending oil prices up well past $100 per barrel.
