U.S. President Donald Trump rebuked European leaders for giving more importance to Russian oil and gas purchases than to standing with Ukraine in its conflict with Russia.
European countries over the weekend reaffirmed their support for Kyiv, after reports of a tense confrontation in the Oval Office last Friday between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite public declarations and social media posts expressing solidarity with Ukraine, Trump suggested that European nations' actions did not match their rhetoric.
"Europe has spent more on purchasing Russian oil and gas than they have spent on defending Ukraine — BY FAR!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. His comments came during a period when European nations expressed their support of Zelenskyy following disagreements with the U.S. over a minerals agreement that he hoped to use to help negotiate peace with Russia.
In a bid to cement its commitment, the United Kingdom sealed a £2.26 billion loan deal with Ukraine, repayable through profits obtained from sanctioned Russian sovereign assets parked in the European Union.
European Union nations spent around €21.9 billion ($23 billion) on Russian fossil fuels in the last year, as stated in a recent report by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
This amount represents a mere 1% fall from last year and is just greater than the €18.7 billion ($19.6 billion) in assistance that Europe gave to Ukraine in 2024, according to figures from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Russia's overall revenue from oil and other fossil fuels was €242 billion ($253.8 billion) for last year, and since it started invading Ukraine in 2022, it has raised approximately €847 billion ($888.5 billion) from the resources.
To put this into perspective, Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) stood at an estimated $2.2 trillion for last year, according to figures reported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) using Kremlin figures.
China, India, and Turkey were the largest buyers of Russian fossil fuels, with China taking the lead at $81.8 billion, followed by India at $51.5 billion and Turkey at $35.6 billion. Turkey, a member of NATO, has faced challenges in its bid to join the European Union.
The CREA report also showed that India's Russian fossil fuel imports increased by 8% in the previous year, while Turkey's imports were up by 6% against 2023 levels.
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