Ukraine pauses drone strikes on tankers bound for Novorossiysk after U.S. request
Washington asked Kyiv to pause strikes after U.S. concerns about market disruption and harm to companies shipping Kazakh oil via the CPC.
Ukraine has halted drone attacks on oil tankers entering the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk after a request from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Ukrainian officials say.
The appeal was made last month, according to those officials, amid concerns from Washington that the strikes were destabilising oil markets and harming American companies whose crude is shipped from Kazakhstan to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal in Novorossiysk.
Ukrainian authorities agreed not to target CPC infrastructure or vessels that are not Russian, on the condition those ships are not under Ukrainian sanctions and are not transporting Russian oil or other cargo from Russia.
Market impact and wider effects
Ukrainian drone strikes in the Black Sea during July reduced loading through the CPC by as much as one fifth, four people familiar with the data said, extending the economic consequences of the Russia–Ukraine war to Kazakhstan and to major Western oil firms.
Kazakhstan, which relies on the CPC route to export crude, recorded a 14 percent drop in oil production in July compared with June, sources said. Chevron and Exxon Mobil are among the large Western oil companies operating in the country.
An American official confirmed to reporters that the administration warned Ukraine to stop attacking non‑Russian ships in the Black Sea. America fired missiles at a cargo vessel that tried to break Iran's blockade.
Photo: press material from the event
