EU spent more on oil and gas from Russia than on financial aid to Ukraine, report says

The European Union has spent more on Russian oil and gas than it has allocated for financial aid to Ukraine.

In 2024, Europe bought 22 billion euros worth of fossil fuels from Russia, but allocated 19 billion euros to support Kyiv, The Guardian reports, citing a CREA report.

A report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), marking the third anniversary of the invasion, says the EU bought 21.9 billion euros worth of Russian oil and gas in the third year of the war, despite measures to wean the continent off Russian fuel.

This amount is one-sixth higher than the 18.7 billion euros that the EU allocated to Ukraine in financial aid in 2024, according to data from the tracker of the Institute for the World Economy in Kiel (IfW Kiel).

This amount does not include military or humanitarian support, the report notes.

According to the study, in the third year of the full-scale invasion, Russia has earned 242 billion euros from fossil fuel exports. Russia’s total oil and gas revenues since the start of the full-scale war are already approaching one trillion euros as the country adjusts to sanctions.

Russia receives up to 50% of its tax revenues from the oil and gas sector and is trying to circumvent sanctions by using a “shadow fleet” of old and under-insured tankers. According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), these vessels account for about a third of Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues.

According to CREA researchers, Russia’s fossil fuel export revenues could fall by 20% if existing sanctions are tightened and loopholes are closed.

USM previously reported that the EU Council had imposed sanctions on 74 vessels from the “shadow fleet.”