Zelensky ‘not afraid’ of second Trump presidency; European Commission gives Hungary the cold shoulder

The European Commission will downgrade its participation in informal meetings planned by Hungary, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, in protest at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s diplomatic forays to Moscow and Beijing.

The UK planned to launch a “call to action” this week with a group of European nations to target the so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers that Russia uses to skirt international sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg.

Zelensky ‘not afraid’ of new Trump presidency as war drags on

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “not afraid” of a potential second Donald Trump presidency even as he said the turbulence around the US election was hurting Kyiv’s effort on the battlefield.

Days after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, world leaders are grappling with his presidential bid gaining fresh momentum. Zelensky, who this month demanded to see Trump’s plan for ending the war, said he already has a basic understanding of its general points — and that peace talks would press ahead with a prospective Trump White House.

“If Mr Donald Trump becomes president, we will work,” he said. “I am not afraid of that.”

Zelensky was careful not to weigh in on the outcome of the November contest, stressing that the matter was up to US voters. Ukraine would rely on bipartisan support in Washington — including “powerful” relations with Republicans — to maintain strong US ties, he said.

The Ukrainian leader earlier this month demanded that Trump come forward with his plan after the former US president boasted that he could end the conflict before his inauguration in January.

“If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today,” Zelensky told Bloomberg Television in Kyiv on 3 July.

With Ukraine acutely dependent on military supplies from US, its largest donor, Zelensky said the tumultuous presidential campaign had taken a toll on Ukraine’s battlefield initiative. Gaining the upper hand against the Russian invaders would be difficult because Kyiv was only securing enough weapons to hold its ground, not to defeat the Kremlin, he said.

As relentless attacks batter Ukraine’s energy system and the full-scale war in its third year, Zelensky said he was considering a cabinet overhaul — though he declined to elaborate amid widespread speculation that he may swap out Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

“We are talking about cabinet replacements,” said Zelensky.

The president said Ukrainian troops had made progress in halting the Kremlin’s new front north of Kharkiv, the country’s No 2 city, but the military situation in the east was more critical. Kyiv’s forces this month withdrew from a section of an embattled town in the eastern Donetsk region, Chasiv Yar, a retreat from part of a strategic position that signalled a setback in the struggle to hold off Russia’s advance.

Read more: Zelensky challenges Trump to reveal plans for ending war

The Ukrainian leader signalled his openness to having a Russian representative take part in a subsequent summit after more than 100 delegations gathered in Switzerland last month, though Moscow was excluded. That meeting fell short of its goal of rallying nations from the Global South, including China, India, Brazil and South Africa.

Kyiv was working toward a new summit in November, said Zelensky adding that a preliminary blueprint would be established at three preceding meetings. Energy would be discussed as late as August in Qatar; food security and navigation at a meeting in Turkey; and the return of children and prisoner swaps would be addressed at a meeting in Canada, he said.

EU commissioners to skip Hungary’s meetings over Orbán Moscow trip

The European Commission will downgrade its participation in informal meetings planned by Hungary, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, in protest at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s diplomatic forays to Moscow and Beijing.

The chief spokesman for the European Union’s executive arm, Eric Mamer, announced the move on Monday evening, saying that it would send senior civil servants rather than commissioners to informal meetings of ministers held in Budapest.

He cited “recent developments marking the start of the Hungarian Presidency” as the reason for the move in a post on the X social media site. The commission will also skip the traditional visit of its commissioners to the country holding the presidency.

The move follows a decision by Sweden, Finland, Poland and three Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to skip the informal meetings during Hungary’s presidency, which lasts through the end of the year.

Orbán blindsided Western allies working to present a united front on Ukraine when he travelled to Moscow earlier this month to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then to Beijing to see President Xi Jinping.

The move by the commission doesn’t apply to a planned informal summit of leaders in Budapest in November, or the regular meetings of ministers in Brussels and Luxembourg during the year.

UK, EU states to target Russian oil fleet with more checks

The UK planned to launch a “call to action” this week with a group of European nations to target the so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers that Russia uses to skirt international sanctions, according to people familiar with the matter and documents seen by Bloomberg.

An unspecified number of governments were set to endorse a plan on the sidelines of a European Political Community meeting hosted in Britain on Thursday by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to a draft statement. They aimed to share information about the Russian fleet “to coordinate our responses to the risks posed by its ships and facilitators, and to work with the private sector and other maritime stakeholders to address the threat”, it said.

Officials and experts from the various countries would establish and meet as a group to urgently “take forward concrete measures”, it added.

The countries are trying to make it even harder for Russia to profit from its oil resources. Group of Seven sanctions have looked to turn Russia into a pariah in conventional oil transportation markets by cutting off access to mainstream tankers and service providers unless the oil being moved is below a G7-defined price cap. That’s forced Moscow to rely on older carriers that operate outside of industry norms.

“Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ poses a threat to our nations and others who depend on the world’s seas and oceans,” according to the document, which could still change before it’s signed later this week. “Many ships in this ‘shadow fleet’ are uninsured and poorly maintained. Many engage in activities which violate basic safety and environmental standards and regulations.”

The response could see more Russian dark fleet vessels sanctioned, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

Russia sees global oil market balanced, thanks to Opec+ actions

The global oil market would remain balanced even when some members of the Opec+ alliance gradually started to increase production, said Russia’s deputy prime minister, Alexander Novak.

While the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies had agreed to roll back some of their output curbs from later this year, the alliance “will assess the current situation,” Novak said in Russia’s southern city of Grozny, according to media reports.

“The market will always be balanced thanks to our actions,” he said in response to a question on whether the market could cope with higher crude supplies.

The comments come before an Opec+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting in early August that will discuss the alliance’s production policy. From October, the group is due to start restoring about 2.17 million barrels a day of voluntary output cuts over a period of 12 months.

Yandex founder Volozh to return as CEO after sanctions dropped

Yandex NV founder Arkady Volozh has returned to lead a much-diminished version of the company he built and that just sold off Russia’s leading search engine.

Yandex, which is registered in the Netherlands, finalised a deal to sell its Russian business, which made up most of its revenue, the company said in a statement on Monday. It will be renamed Nebius Group after shareholder approval and focus on developing its own projects. Volozh would oversee the process as the firm’s chief executive officer, according to two people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified before an official announcement.

A representative for Yandex NV declined to comment.

Yandex came under intense pressure both in Russia and abroad following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, before reaching an agreement earlier this year to sell its Russian business for 475 billion roubles ($5.4-billion) in a cash and stock deal to a consortium of Russian buyers. The cash component of the transaction was completed in May. The share transfer was finalised this month, according to the statement.

Volozh (60) resigned as Yandex’s chief after the European Union sanctioned him in 2022 for the company’s role in promoting Russian propaganda and disinformation about the war. The following year he publicly denounced the invasion of Ukraine for the first time.

In March, the EU lifted the sanctions on Volozh, who lives in Israel. DM