Top Zelenskyy advisor pleads with EU politicians to stop buying Russian oil: ‘Sometimes one Man can change everything’

• Zelenskyy’s top advisor urged EU politicians on Monday to ban Russian oil and gas.
• It’s the latest attempt from Ukraine to push Europe away from dependence on Russian energy. 
• The European Union on Monday did not rule out sanctions on Russian oil.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top advisor urged European politicians on Monday to stop buying Russian oil and gas.

“Sometimes one Man can change everything by doing the right choice,” Mikhail Podolyak, who is also Ukraine’s lead negotiator in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia, wrote in a tweet. 

He added: “Not listening to experts, but listening to own heart. It’s not too late to make this choice for [European Union] politicians. It’s time to take responsibility for the future and refuse from [Russian] oil and gas.”

Podolyak’s remarks are the latest attempt from Ukraine to push Europe away from its dependence on Russian energy, and to punish the country for President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine. 

A video released to Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel on Thursday accused Europeans of paying for Russian gas with Ukrainian lives instead of euros or rubles. 

The video, with calming music in the background, alternated between shots of individuals smiling as they fill up their cars with gas, and images of death and destruction in Ukrainian cities. 

Russia is a world leader in gas and oil exports and provides Europe with around 45% of its natural gas imports. Over a quarter of Europe’s oil supply comes from Russia, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat has said.

Putin has previously threatened to stop exporting gas to Europe if countries that Russia listed as “unfriendly” — like the US, UK, and EU countries — don’t pay in rubles.

But while EU countries have said they would lean away from Russian energy, it faces an uphill battle in actually doing so.

EU countries on Friday agreed to ban Russian coal imports in a new round of sanctions, which didn’t target Russian oil or gas. The new sanctions landed amid international outrage following the recent discovery of mass civilian killings in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. 

Earlier on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters that sanctions on Russian oil are “on the table.”