Urgent request made to Ukraine, prompting Zelensky to say "Immediately"

The newspaper, citing Ukrainian officials, reported that the request last month came after the United States expressed concern that Ukraine was destabilizing oil markets and harming American companies by targeting tankers carrying crude oil from Kazakhstan to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal at the port.

Ukraine agreed to the request not to target CPC infrastructure or non-Russian vessels that are not under Ukrainian sanctions and are not carrying Russian oil or cargo, the Financial Times added.

The White House, State Department and Vance’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, and Reuters said it was unable to independently verify the Financial Times report. 

Ukrainian forces have recently stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and other targets in an effort to, according to Kyiv, deprive Russia of resources to finance its military.

Drone attacks in the Black Sea disrupted as much as one-fifth of CPC oil loadings in July, four sources familiar with the data said.

Kazakhstan, which relies on the CPC route to export crude oil, experienced a 14% drop in oil production in July compared with June, the sources said. 

The major oil companies operating in the region are Chevron and ExxonMobil.

The Financial Times also reported that a U.S. official confirmed that the Donald Trump administration had warned Ukraine to stop attacking non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea.