Trump tells Europe to stop buying Russian oil, push back on China over Ukraine

US President Donald Trump told European leaders on Thursday that their continued purchases of Russian oil were helping Moscow finance its war in Ukraine, a White House official said.

Trump made the remarks while joining a virtual session of the “Coalition of the Willing,” a group of countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron that is exploring security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace settlement with Moscow.

According to the official, Trump warned that Russia had earned €1.1 billion from fuel sales to the EU in just one year. He also pressed European governments to exert economic pressure on China, accusing Beijing of indirectly supporting Moscow’s war efforts.

The European Commission has already proposed a complete phase-out of EU imports of Russian oil and gas by January 1, 2028, as part of its effort to end the bloc’s reliance on Russian energy supplies, a dependency that deepened over decades before the Ukraine war.

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Trump has been frustrated at his inability to get a halt to the fighting in Ukraine after he initially predicted he would be able to end the war swiftly when he took office last January.

The official said Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were among the leaders on the call.

”The ’Coalition of the Willing’ meeting was on security guarantees for Ukraine. President Trump questioned their seriousness while they continue to fuel Russia’s economy and war. The president made clear that this is not his war, and the Europeans must step up as well,” the official said.