Ukraine's FM Calls On Europe to Fight Russia’s "Shadow Fleet" Financing the War

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, appealed to European countries to start a fight against the "shadow fleet" of tankers transporting Russian oil.

“Russia poses an existential threat to Europe, yet continues to earn billions on energy exports to Europe and through European waters. It then uses them to fund aggression against Ukraine and Euro-Atlantic security. Europe can and must deprive Russia of its bloody energy revenues,” Sybiha wrote on his account on X (formerly Twitter).

The shadow fleet consists of vessels with mysterious ownership used by Russia to obscure their transport of sanctioned Russian oil/wet cargo since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

According to a Financial Times report citing the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Moscow's ability to transport oil using old, uninsured vessels has increased by 70% since 2023.

The exact number of tankers involved in transporting Russian oil is unknown, as estimates vary. By March 2023, CNN reported about 600 tankers of various capacities. Today, Russia is believed to directly or indirectly control between 1,400 and 1,800 tankers, making it the largest operator of a shadow fleet.