Zelenskyy Praises Australian PM for Sanctions Targeting Russian Shadow Fleet

Ukraine’s president has publicly thanked Australia’s prime minister for delivering the country’s largest sanctions package against Russia since the invasion began in February 2022.

In a message to Anthony Albanese, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the government for imposing fresh sanctions on 180 individuals, entities, and vessels linked to Russia’s shadow fleet.

“I am grateful to @AlboMP and Australia for the new single largest sanctions package against Russia since February 2022,” Zelenskyy said on X.

“These measures directly reduce the Kremlin’s revenues and weaken its war machine.”

The shadow fleet has been used to transport Russian oil and sidestep Western restrictions designed to curb the Kremlin’s income.

Zelenskyy added, “Russia will stop only when it realises how costly and exhausting this war is for it. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine.”

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, when President Vladimir Putin sent troops across the country’s borders. This escalated a conflict that began in 2014 with the annexation of Crimea.

February 2026 marks the fourth anniversary of the invasion. Fighting continues across Ukraine’s east and south, while Western sanctions and diplomatic pressure aim to make the war economically and politically unsustainable for Moscow.

Zelenskyy also extended his thanks to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon his government’s sanctions.

“I am grateful to @chrisluxonmp and to New Zealand for the new decisions in support of Ukraine and for announcing the 34th package of sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy said on X.

“What is important is that this sanctions package includes, among other things, vessels of the shadow fleet and a lower price cap on Russian oil. Every sanctions decision makes the war more costly for Russia and brings a dignified peace closer. Thank you.”

The comments come as Albanese, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong marked the four year mark of the current Russo-Ukrainian war.

The federal government said its sanctions are aimed at Russia’s finance and banking, defence, aeronautical, oil and gas, transportation, and science and technology sectors.

“They are designed to squeeze Russian revenues and further constrain its ability to continue its illegal and brutal invasion,” Albanese, Wong, and Marles said on Feb. 24, noting that the sanctions on the shadow fleet would “starve Russia’s war economy of revenue.”

Australia has implemented 1,800 sanctions against Russia, while also reducing the Russian Oil Price Cap from US$47.60 a barrel, to US$44.10—meaning local companies can only buy Russian oil products from third countries below that price.

Meanwhile, the federal opposition has called on the Albanese government to continue providing aid to Ukraine.

“In concert with other nations, such necessary action can tip the scales towards peace,” Liberal leader Angus Taylor and shadow ministers said in a statement sent to the Epoch Times.

“A Ukraine which disappears from the map would only embolden autocrats and authoritarian regimes elsewhere, including in our region.”

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has also spoken to U.S. President Donald Trump on preparation for full trilateral talks between the U.S.-Ukraine-Russia in March.

“We expect this meeting to create an opportunity to move talks to the leaders’ level. President Trump supports this sequence of steps.  This is the only way to resolve all the complex and sensitive issues and finally end the war. Thank you,” he said.