According to Forbes, Ukraine imported 70% of its oil products before the war. In 2021, 42% of diesel fuel was imported from Belarus and another 30% from Russia. Since the war, direct deliveries from these countries have been stopped, but Russian fuel is exported to Turkey, where it is registered as Turkish and then delivered to EU countries. This is how Russian diesel enters Ukraine.
After introducing the embargo in the EU, the import of diesel from Russia to Turkey soared significantly. At the same time, Ukrainian legislation does not prohibit the import of fuel of unknown origin, and it can be 100% Russian. In February alone 20% of all imports, or 100,000 tons of diesel fuel of unknown origin, entered Ukraine from Turkey and India.
The trade representative of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, said that to prevent this, Ukraine plans to set a customs rate within a few weeks. But it is not yet known what to do with Russian diesel, which enters Ukraine as a mix of European or Turkish fuel and has a corresponding certificate of origin.