Donald Trump on Thursday voiced frustration with EU countries that still buy Russian oil, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after the US president spoke to him and European leaders during a summit on Ukraine.
Ukraine's allies met in Paris to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a peace deal to end Russia's war against Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
The United States was represented at the talks by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who also met Zelensky separately. The call with Trump took place by videoconference.
"President Trump is very dissatisfied that Russia's oil is being purchased by Europe. Among others, there are two countries, we know that these are Hungary and Slovakia," Zelensky told reporters in Paris following the summit.
The European Union imposed a ban on most oil imports from Russia in 2022 over its invasion of Ukraine.
It however made an exception for imports to Slovakia and Hungary to give the landlocked central European countries time to find alternative oil supplies.
Ukraine has targeted Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline, which carries Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary, throughout the conflict.
Both nations have asked the European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- to act against Ukraine's "repeated attacks" on the pipeline.
Slovakia's Moscow-friendly leader Robert Fico is set to meet Zelensky in western Ukraine on Friday, after holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China earlier this week.
Last month, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he had complained to Trump over the attacks on the pipeline.
AFP
Comments