Shippingtelegraph: Zelenskyy slams Europe over Russian shadow fleet in scathing Davos speech
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began his address at Davos last week with a stinging rebuke for European leaders over their reluctance to use hard power to punish Russia.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy criticised Europe of failing to halt Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers, lacking the will to act as a real power when US attention shifts elsewhere.
He questioned why Trump could seize shadow fleet of tankers and oil while Europe could not, noting that oil funds the war against Ukraine. “If Putin has no money, there’s no war for Europe. Right now, those tankers are making money for Putin, and that means Russia continues to push its sick agenda,” Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy called on Europe to confiscate Russian oil “that funds the war against Ukraine,” drawing a contrast to the U.S. in recent weeks controversially stopping tankers from the so-called shadow fleet and seizing oil.
The Ukrainian president turned his attention to Russia’s shadow fleet, questioning why Mr Trump was able to “stop tankers from the shadow fleet and seize oil, but Europe doesn’t”.
“Russian oil is being transported right along European shores,” Zelenskyy told the participants of the special session of the World Economic Forum. “That oil funds the war against Ukraine. That oil helps destabilize Europe. So Russian oil must be stopped and confiscated and sold for Europe’s benefit. Why not?”
As he was winding down his speech, reports emerged that France’s navy, with the assistance of allies including the UK, on Thursday intercepted a crude oil tanker on the high seas in the Mediterranean that travelled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet.
French president Emmanuel Macron revealed that French forces boarded the vessel with allied support. The ship was subject to international sanctions and suspected of operating under a false flag, he said.
Zelenskyy praised it as “exactly the kind of resolve needed” on social media after his speech.
As 2025 drew to a close, approximately 285 internationally trading tankers were broadcasting via AIS – Automatic Identification System under the flag of a fraudulent or unknown registry, according to analysis by Maritime AI™ company Windward.
Windward identified 18 such fraudulent registries, as defined by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
A striking 91% of vessels using these fraudulent registries were already sanctioned by Western authorities, underscoring the increased pressure dark fleet tankers face in finding a legitimate regulatory home to continue trading.
False flagging is frequently paired with other deceptive shipping practices. These include manipulated AIS positions, GNSS spoofing that falsifies voyage histories, cloned MMSI numbers, and documentation that does not align with observed behavior.
“When a vessel claims a fraudulent or nonexistent registry, the mechanisms that underpin maritime trade begin to fail,” Windward explains, adding that, “Flag-state responsibility becomes unenforceable. Insurance and classification linked to that flag may be invalid, suspended, or impossible to verify.”
Yet on paper, the vessel can still appear compliant, moving through ports, anchorages, and shipping lanes as part of normal trade.
“This creates systemic risk,” Windward warns.
Commercial counterparties may unknowingly engage with vessels that are effectively uninsured, improperly classed, or outside any clear legal jurisdiction.
In the event of an incident, collisions, pollution, cargo loss, or crew injury, liability becomes contested or unassignable, delaying response and shifting costs across the supply chain.
In his wide-ranging reproach, the Ukrainian president said to the Davos crowd that the issue of Russian oil remains the same. “It’s good that many sanctions exist. Russian oil is getting cheaper. But the flow has not stopped. And Russian companies that fund Putin’s war machine are still working. And that will not change without more sanctions,” he said.
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