US President Donald Trump on Thursday urged European leaders to stop buying Russian oil in order to put pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.
The Coalition of the Willing
President Trump made the statement during a telephone call with heads of state gathered in Paris for the "Coalition of the Willing", organized by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Some thirty executives gathered
The aim of the summit, attended by some 30 leaders, some of whom were present at the Élysée Palace and others participating by videoconference, was to "finalize robust security guarantees for Ukraine", said Macron.
Slovakia and Hungary in the spotlight
"He's very unhappy that Russian oil is being bought by Europe", said Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, citing Slovakia and Hungary, at a joint press conference with his French counterpart.volodomyr Zelensky, citing Slovakia and Hungary, at a joint press conference with his French counterpart at the Élysée Palace.
The attack on the Droujba pipeline
On Sunday, Ukraine attacked the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, announced the commander of Ukrainian drone forces, Robert Brovdi. This infrastructure in the Bryansk region suffered "significant damage", according to Brovdi.
Economic pressure on China
"The president also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts," a White House official said via a statement.
Russia's fourth-largest oil importer
The share of Russian oil and gas in the European Union's (EU) energy mix is set to fall from 45% in 2021 to 18% in 2024, reports the Finnish Research Centre for Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Yet even after three and a half years of Russian-Ukrainian war, the EU is still the world's fourth-largest importer of Russian oil, after China, India and Turkey.
Dependent on other strategic products
Washington, for its part, stopped importing energy from Russia in April 2022. That said, the U.S. continues to buy other Russian products, such as aluminum, palladium, uranium and many mineral fertilizers. They also pay billions to Moscow every year.