Ukraine using Russian oil to fuel its Western-supplied tanks

Ukraine is fueling its tanks with Russian oil, the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday. Russian oil that is refined in Hungary and Turkey is being used to power Ukraine’s Western-supplied tanks as well as diesel generators. The German newspaper, quoting Ukrainian customs officials, said that the Hungarian oil and gas giant MOL has “doubled its sales to Ukraine in the past six months.” “Since MOL sources a large proportion of oil from Russia, Ukraine’s war machine should now be primarily fueled with it,” it added. How is Hungary supplying Russian oil to Ukraine? Explaining the mechanism of how Kyiv is still able to use Russian oil, Handelsblatt said that despite Hungary’s EU membership, the country has secured a special waiver to import crude oil via Russian pipelines. Therefore, unaffected by the union’s sanctions on Moscow, MOL is able to supply oil to Ukraine at lower prices. The German newspaper also noted that Ukraine has not yet run short of oil even though it largely depends on outside imports. “Fuel deliveries are mainly made by rail via Poland,” Michal Paszkowski, an analyst at the Institute of Central Europe (IES) in Lublin, told the German newspaper. He added, “The fuel comes from Slovakia and Hungary by pipeline, while from Romania the diesel is first shipped and then transported by rail. Kyiv gets Russian oil from Bulgaria An investigation by EURACTIV Bulgaria shows that in 2022, Kyiv was provided with huge amounts of fuel from Bulgaria made of Russian oil. According to data from the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, between January and November 2022, the country exported €700 million worth of fuels to Ukraine. The year also saw Ukraine be Bulgaria’s third-biggest oil trading partner, leaving behind the US. “The refinery in Burgas can afford to export fuel at significantly lower prices because it works with its own raw material. Last year, because of Western sanctions, Russian oil prices on world markets were on average $20-30 per barrel lower than stock market prices,” the website noted.