Zelensky urges Russian oil sanctions to be reimposed after Iran ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he wants energy sanctions to be reinstated on Russia following a US-Iran ceasefire agreement that should reopen the Strait of Hormuz waterway, vital to global energy supplies.

"Now a ceasefire is beginning in the Middle East and the Gulf. And I am waiting for sanctions on Russian oil to be fully reimposed, as they were before," Zelensky said in comments released under embargo to journalists, including from AFP, on Friday.

The United States eased some oil sanctions on Russia last month to tackle surging energy costs caused by the Middle East war. Kyiv and its allies warned the move could help fund Moscow's war against Ukraine.

The US waiver allowed countries to purchase Russian oil that was already at sea until April 11.

The Kremlin welcomed the decision by urging the United States to go further.

The general surge in oil prices since the start of the war in the Middle East has helped to replenish Russia's coffers, depleted by more than four years of war against Ukraine and international sanctions.

Zelensky added that Ukrainian partners had asked Kyiv to halt long-range strikes on Russian oil sites against the backdrop of price hikes linked to the Iran war.

"I won't say who asked us to do this. But partners did ask -- it's a fact. They asked at different levels, from political to military leadership," Zelensky said.

Ukraine has intensified its retaliatory attacks on Russian infrastructure including refineries, oil depots and ports in the past weeks, repeatedly striking the major Baltic ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk.

Both Ukraine and Russia have been targeting each others' energy sites since Moscow invaded in February 2022, sparking the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II.

The two sides have agreed to cease fire for the Orthodox Easter holidays, a rare 32-hour halt in fighting.