Ukraine halts Black Sea tanker strikes after Vance's request, FT reports
The Financial Times reports that Ukraine stopped attacking tankers near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Novorossiysk after US envoy Steve Vance asked it to during a July 31 call with President Zelensky. Kyiv complied partly hoping to secure a US license and supplies of Patriot missiles.
The Financial Times, citing sources, reports that Ukraine has stopped striking tankers carrying oil across the Black Sea to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Russia's Novorossiysk port. The shift followed a July 31 phone call in which US special envoy Steve Vance asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt such strikes.
Washington's concerns over oil markets
According to the report, Washington grew concerned that Ukraine's strikes on tankers were destabilizing global oil markets and harming US business interests. The tankers in question carry oil piped from Kazakhstan to the consortium's terminal in Novorossiysk. US energy majors Chevron and ExxonMobil are co-owners of the consortium and of the oil fields in western Kazakhstan that feed it.
A US official confirmed to the newspaper that the administration views the Caspian Pipeline Consortium as a vital channel for delivering Kazakh energy resources to European markets, serving as an alternative to Russian energy supplies.
Kyiv's concession tied to Patriot missiles
Ukraine has agreed not to target consortium infrastructure or non-Russian-owned vessels, provided those ships are not under Ukrainian sanctions and are not carrying Russian oil or other Russian cargo. One source told the paper that Kyiv is listening closely to its American partners and has already set up mechanisms to comply with the request.
Another source explained that Kyiv's compliance is linked to its efforts to obtain a US license to produce Patriot air defense missiles, as well as to purchase several hundred such missiles before winter. A US official also confirmed that Washington had previously warned Ukraine about the need to stop shelling non-Russian vessels and Caspian Pipeline Consortium infrastructure in the Black Sea.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued since February 24, 2022, while Russia's war against Ukraine dates back to 2014, when it occupied Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and launched fighting in the Donbas.
