Trump presses European leaders to stop bankrolling Putin's Ukraine war by buying Russian oil

President Trump urged European leaders on Thursday to stop buying Russian oil that helps Moscow fund its war against Ukraine, a White House official said.

Mr. Trump joined via phone call a meeting of leaders of European countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron who are offering security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia.

“President Macron and European leaders called President Trump into their ’Coalition of the Willing’ meeting. President Trump emphasized that Europe must stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war, as Russia received 1.1 billion euros in fuel sales from the EU in one year,” the official said.

“The president also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for funding Russia’s war efforts,” said the official.

The EU, which has partnered with the U.S. to impose severe sanctions on Moscow, still imported $41.9 billion in goods from Russia last year, according to data from the bloc’s statistics agency, Eurostat.

Russia was the largest supplier of petroleum to the European Union before the war began. Europe has eased off Russian oil since the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Europe still imports billions in oil products from Russia.

Russian oil imports to Europe were $1.72 billion in the first quarter of 2025, which is a dramatic drop from $16.4 billion during the first quarter of 2021, according to Eurostat data.

Europe has only slightly reduced its dependence on natural gas imports from Russia. In the first quarter of 2025, Russia accounted for about 19% of natural gas imported to Europe, down from 22% in 2021. In fact, the value of Russian gas imports has increased over the past four years because of price increases, reaching $5.24 billion in this year’s first quarter.

Iron, steel and fertilizer are among the other products Russia imports to the European Union.

Overall trade between Russia and the EU has dropped by 86% between the first quarter of 2022 and 2025, Eurostat data showed.

The European Commission has proposed legislation to phase out EU imports of Russian oil and gas by January 1, 2028, but severing its decades-old energy ties with Moscow has proven tricky.