Ukraine urges ‘afraid’ EU to take action against Russian ‘shadow fleet’ of oil tankers

BERLIN - Ukraine on Jan 28 urged the European Union not to be afraid of taking “physical” action against Russia’s “shadow fleet”, pointing to the example of

Venezuela-linked oil tankers seized by the United States.

Visiting Berlin, the Ukrainian presidency’s special representative for sanctions, Mr Vladyslav Vlasiuk, also said work was still needed on Western components found in Russian weapons, which he said was proof that Moscow is circumventing sanctions.

Calling for “robust actions”, he said that only increased pressure on Russia could help with negotiations to bring the war to an end.

The volume of oil transported in 2025 by Russia’s “shadow fleet” –

a flotilla of old oil tankers

that aim to get around international sanctions – was the same as the previous year, Mr Vlasiuk said.

If some EU countries “started to physically stop the vessels, I can promise nothing would happen, just because Russians are not that scary as they try to be – so don’t be afraid”, he said.

He added that he wanted to reduce the volume of oil transported by 10 to 20 per cent.

The Ukrainian official praised “the actions taken by the US government recently against six or seven” tankers, some of which were linked to Russia.

“We think that this is a very efficient way to enforce sanctions.”

Regarding Western components found in Russian drones and missiles fired at Ukraine, Mr Vlasiuk also called for action, particularly from Germany.

“I would avoid naming those companies as of now, but... let’s see what we can do in a couple of weeks,” he said, adding that it depended on the actions of the German government.

In a speech last week in Davos,

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused his European allies of lacking “political will” in countering Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and said they looked “lost” over how to deal with US President Donald Trump. AFP