South Korea denies supplying fuel to Russia and is urging Ukraine to refrain from public statements that “could damage international trust in Korea”.
This was reported by Suspilne, citing Kang Yu-jung, spokesperson for the South Korean presidential administration.
“It is untrue and unacceptable that an official from the Office of the President of Ukraine cited a Guardian article to publicly portray South Korea as if it were helping to ease Russia’s fuel crisis and the consequences of the loss of its refining capacity, acting contrary to its current sanctions policy towards Russia, doing so on the basis of individual transactions whose key details — such as the parties to the deal, the country of origin and the end buyer — were not verified,” she said.
It is noted that the South Korean government is currently checking the facts and plans to take the necessary measures if any problems are identified.
“We also ask Ukraine to refrain from misrepresenting the Republic of Korea’s relevant policy without sufficient fact-checking, and from public statements that could undermine international trust,” the spokesperson said.
An official at the National Security Office under the President of South Korea said that official statistics for the period from August 2025 to August 2026 recorded no exports of diesel fuel, petrol or aviation fuel from South Korea to Russia.
- Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the President of Ukraine’s Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, said the supplies had mitigated the impact of Russia’s fuel crisis caused by Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. He added that imports from South Korea effectively helped Russia offset the consequences of losing its own refining capacity.
- Earlier, The Guardian published an article stating that fuel is being transported from South Korea to Russia by sanctioned tankers. According to the outlet, in July and August more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel were loaded at several South Korean ports onto seven tankers, which made 14 voyages to Russia’s Far East.