Kremlin says demand for Russian oil sharply increased

MOSCOW

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the demand for Russian oil has recently increased sharply.

Peskov told the VGTRK broadcast company that the demand is so high that Moscow may find it difficult to meet all the requests.

"The demand is high, the demand for alternative directions is high, so, of course, a moment may come when additional demand will be difficult to satisfy," he said.

Presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev accused Ukraine of exacerbating the global energy crisis.

"The Ukrainian leadership seems to be desperately trying to exacerbate the world's largest energy crisis, further accelerating the EU's energy collapse," he wrote on US social media X, about strikes on the port of Ust-Luga in Russia's Leningrad Region.

Russian media reported earlier that the Ukrainian drone attack set fire to several oil reservoirs in the port of Ust-Luga.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the drones traveled more than 900 kilometers (560 miles). Ukraine's General Staff also reported damage to the Russian patrol icebreaker Purga.

Earlier, Dmitriev suggested that additional increases in energy and commodity prices would have a significant effect on the economy and cause inflation to accelerate. He said a "tsunami of energy shock" is approaching Europe, related to the EU's refusal to use Russian natural gas.