Ukraine war briefing: Britain to buy diesel and jet fuel made from Russian crude oil

A breach widened in the oil and gas sanctions cordon around Russia on Tuesday, as Britain exempted imports of diesel and jet fuel made from Russia crude, but refined in third-party countries. It comes after the US extended a waiver that critics say allows the Kremlin to earn more money and fund the war in Ukraine.

Russian oil is shipped to India, Turkey and other countries where it is refined and re-exported as their own product – complicating sanctions enforcement. The new rules take effect on Wednesday and will be of indefinite duration, though they will be reviewed periodically and can be amended or revoked, the British government said in a notice. Higher fuel costs have fed into broader cost-of-living pressures in Britain.

An EU official on Tuesday criticised the latest US waiver of sanctions on Russian oil, announced via the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent. “From the EU point of view, we do not think that this is a time to ease pressure on Russia,” said the EU economics commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis. “In fact, Russia is the one which is gaining from the war in Iran and the increase in fossil fuel prices … Secretary Bessent was reassuring us that this is a temporary measure, but we know that it’s already a second extension of the measure which initially was meant to last only 30 days.”

Britain on Tuesday also issued a licence for maritime transport of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 and Yamal projects and related services – including shipping, financing and brokering – under Russia sanctions rules, running until 1 January 2027.

The US warned Russia against attacking Latvia after the Kremlin’s UN ambassador threatened it with “retaliation” over Ukrainian drones. Baltic countries denounced as lies claims by Vasily Nebenzya that Ukraine was planning to launch drones from Baltic countries. A Romanian F-16 Nato jet shot down a drone over Estonia on Tuesday, Shaun Walker writes, in what appeared to be the latest case of Russian electronic jamming diverting long-range Ukrainian drones into Nato territory.

Russia’s SVR foreign spying and disinformation service said on Tuesday that Ukraine planned to launch drone attacks against Russia from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. At the UN, Nebenzya threatened Latvia by saying “the membership of Nato will not protect you from retaliation”. US ambassador Tammy Bruce responded: “There is no place for threats against a council member. The United States keeps all of its Nato commitments.”

Latvia’s UN representative Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes sounded breezier. “Lies and aggressive disinformation and threats are a sign of despair and weakness, and we have seen similar lies addressed against other members of this council in the previous meetings, so I’m very honoured to have the attention drawn to my country today.” The Latvian president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, posted: “Russia is lying about Latvia allowing any country to use Latvian airspace and territory to launch attacks against Russia or any other country.” Officials from Estonia and Lithuania also denied such plans.

A funeral was held in Kyiv on Tuesday for Liubava Yakovlieva, 12, and her sister Vira, 17 who were killed when a Russian missile tore through their Kyiv apartment building on 14 May. Twenty-four people were killed in all. The girls’ mother, Tetiana, sat beside the coffins, the family’s sole surviving member. The father, Yevhen, was killed on the frontline as a soldier three years ago.

“This is an unnatural order of things, when parents bury their children,” said Efrem Khomiak, the priest presiding at the St Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery, where Kyiv mourns its soldiers and its prominent dead. “This funeral, this grief, this tragedy, it is not only your family’s. It belongs to all of Ukraine. Because we are all bound together in this war.”

Ukrainian forces struck a Russian refinery and an oil pumping station over the past 48 hours, Ukraine’s general staff said on Tuesday. Russia attacked Ukraine with 209 drones over the previous night, killing five civilians and wounding 24 others, officials said. Five people were injured after Russia hit the south-eastern city of Dnipro, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Hanzha.

Industrial areas around Nevinnomyssk in Russia’s southern Stavropol region were under drone attack on Wednesday morning, said the governor, Vladimir Vladimirov. The area is home to Nevinnomyssky Azot, a large chemical plant, which has been a target of drone attacks from Ukraine before.