Ukrainian tanks using Russian imported fuel: Reports
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Ukraine is using diesel made from Russian oil to fuel the tanks it is using them against Russia.
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Ukrainian servicemen ride atop on a tank T-64 at the front line near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Monday, July 3, 2023 (AP Photo/Alex Babenko, File)
Ukraine is importing diesel from Hungary and Turkey and growing more dependent on the supplies from these two countries, though they mainly process oil from Russia at their refineries, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported Monday, citing Ukrainian customs.
The revelation highlights that as Ukraine is calling on countries to boycott Russia and after Europe severed its energy ties with it, the main party in the conflict, Kiev, is still using energy from Moscow.
Companies that do not receive oil from Russia, meanwhile, are losing market share in Ukraine, the report revealed.
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has a competitive advantage over other European oil and gas companies, as it has special permission from the European Union to continue supplying Russian oil, the report added.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced earlier in July that Budapest had asked the EU to extend for a year an exemption from sanctions to allow for Slovnaft, a subsidiary of Hungary’s MOL in Slovakia, to export Russian oil derivatives.
Data released in April revealed that the European Union is still the top importer of Russian fossil fuel energy despite the EU leading in the implementation of the most stringent sanctions against Moscow.
The EU is the greatest importer since it continues to acquire a record volume of crude products from Russia's primary customers.
The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) identified what it called five "laundromat" nations that sell Russian crude to the EU, which are China, India, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore.
To crack down on Russian crude oil and oil products, the EU, Group of Seven (G7) nations, and Australia have joined the US in implementing some of the harshest anti-Russia sanctions, including a ban on most oil exports to Europe and a price cap on Russian crude.
Another set of sanctions, in which the EU embargoed refined items like diesel and gasoline, went into force in February of this year.
However, these imports have expanded "by leaps and bounds" from "laundromat" nations, who have all become the leading importers of Russian crude since the start of the war, the research explained.
The report highlighted that the EU, G7 nations, and Australia have imported a total of €42 billion (£37 billion) in oil products from "laundromat" countries in the year after the start of the Ukraine war.
It noted that the EU's oil imports totaled €7.7 billion (£6.7 billion) in the year following the war, placing it at the top of Russian oil importers
