WASHINGTON (AP) — Kyiv’s top envoy to Washington said Tuesday that the U.S. State Department was displeased with Ukraine’s recent attack on the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, which affected U.S. oil interests in Kazakhstan.
Ambassador Olga Stefanisina noted U.S. concerns regarding the fourth anniversary of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
“This engagement has nothing to do with encouraging Ukraine not to attack Russian military and energy infrastructure. It has to do with the fact that U.S. economic interests are affected,” Stefanisina told reporters in Washington. “This did happen and we documented it.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Caspian Pipeline Alliance operates a pipeline from the Caspian Sea coast in northwestern Kazakhstan to the port of Novorossiysk. The pipeline handles most of Kazakhstan’s crude exports from three main fields in which major U.S. energy companies Chevron and Exxon Mobil have stakes.
The Group of Seven major industrialized countries issued a leaders’ statement on Tuesday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the war and reiterated its “firm support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to existence, as well as freedom, sovereignty and independence.” The statement also praised President Donald Trump’s efforts to negotiate a peace settlement between Russia and Ukraine.
The UN General Assembly also adopted a resolution on Tuesday expressing support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and calling for an immediate ceasefire and comprehensive peace, but the United States was one of 51 countries to abstain. The United States has tried unsuccessfully to eliminate references to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Tammy Bruce said the Trump administration supported an immediate ceasefire but that language about Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would “distract” from peace talks with Russia.
In U.S.-brokered talks, Russian President Vladimir Putin maintained the highest level of demands, insisting that Kyiv withdraw its troops from four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed but never fully occupied. Trump believes Russia will inevitably win control of Ukrainian territory and has pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky to strike a deal to save lives.
Zelensky said Ukraine had withstood attacks by Russia’s larger and better-equipped forces, which had captured just 0.79 percent of Ukraine’s territory in the past year of fighting, according to the Institute for War, a Washington think tank. Russia now owns nearly 20% of Ukraine.
Trump will deliver his annual State of the Union address later Tuesday. Stefanisina said she expected Trump, who has made ending the war his top priority, to address the conflict in his speech, although she did not foresee a significant change in his message.
“But at the same time, we want President Trump to hear us before he speaks, you know, despite the complexity and tragedy of what’s happening in Ukraine, the people of Ukraine are still very dependent on his leadership,” she said.
