Zelenski, appeal to allies amid new talks with the US. “Russia's shadow fleet must not feel safe in European waters”
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday urged Ukraine's allies to keep up the pressure on Russia and called for tougher action against the so-called “shadow fleet” to cut into oil revenues for Moscow, Reuters reports.
Representatives of the United States and Ukraine met in Florida on Saturday for a new round of talks, which continued on Sunday. Russia is not participating in the meeting, although it was initially thought that it would, and it was to be held in Abu Dhabi.
The American delegation is led by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump.
The call of the Ukrainian president
Zelenski has called for tougher action against Russia's shadow fleet, a vast network of ships used to export oil despite Western sanctions.
Ukraine's president says oil revenue “gives Russia a sense of impunity and the ability to continue the war.”
“That's why the pressure must continue and the sanctions must work,” the Ukrainian leader said in a post on the X platform on Sunday.
“Russia's shadow fleet should not feel safe in European waters or anywhere else. Oil vessels servicing the war budget can and should be stopped and jammed, not just released,” he continued.
“Oil ships serving the war budget can and must be stopped and blocked,” Zelenskiy stressed.
Last week, French naval forces seized an oil tanker in the western Mediterranean that President Emmanuel Macron said was part of Russia's shadow fleet.
This fleet, which has grown in the context of sanctions aimed at reducing Russia's oil revenues, has helped to maintain the flow of Russian oil exports.
Elections and territorial concessions
Among the elements of the peace plan promoted by the US are the organization of presidential elections in Ukraine and territorial concessions by Kiev.
Zelenskiy, whose term has already expired, is again being pressured by Trump to hold an election.
Ukraine's law prohibits holding elections during wartime, but Zelenskiy said the country was ready to hold a vote if the United States provided a two-month ceasefire and security guarantees.
Former army chief Valeri Zalujnii, now Ukraine's ambassador to Britain, considered a potential candidate, believes that Ukraine does not need elections at this time, but a peace won through war.
“What Ukraine needs is not time to prepare and hold elections, but a war-won peace that will secure a future for our children,” he wrote in an article published Sunday by the Ukrainian publication NV.
