Ukrainian Congress Committee of America urge Governor Hochul to help block 140,000-ton Russian diesel shipment bound for Port of New York on 6-7 November

A Russian fuel tanker is bound for New York, and Ukrainian activists want it stopped. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America has launched an urgent campaign urging residents and officials of the state to block the ship, which it says carries about 140,000 tons of Russian diesel and is due at the Port of New York around 6-7 November.

The shipment is the first fruit of a US decision to let Russian diesel back onto the American market, a reversal Ukrainians say puts money in the Kremlin’s war chest. The diesel deal, paired with curbs on the Starlink service Ukraine’s military relies on, has already triggered protests across US and European cities.

“Every dollar for Russian fuel, a weapon”: the call to Albany

The committee urged New Yorkers to press Governor Kathy Hochul and their state representatives to use every available power to keep the ship from docking.

“At a time when russia continues its war against Ukraine, reopening US markets to russian fuel risks restoring revenue to an energy sector that helps sustain the russian state,” the committee said.

Buying Russian energy breaks with the principles of international security, it argued, because every dollar paid for Russian fuel turns into a weapon that destroys Ukrainian cities and kills people.

From Chicago to Rome: a diaspora in the streets

The appeal is part of a wider wave of anger among Ukrainians abroad over the diesel deal and the slowdown of Starlink for Ukraine’s forces.

The committee’s Illinois branch has rallied in Chicago. A Houston chapter of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America held a demonstration against concessions to the Kremlin. The group Boston Supports Ukraine held a rally in its city.

Hundreds gathered outside the US embassy in London, and in Rome more than 300 Ukrainians filled Piazza Barberini to denounce what they called a “diesel deal on blood” and the satellite-communication limits on Ukraine’s troops.

Street protests are only one piece of a broader advocacy, said Mykhailo Savkiv, the committee’s president and head of the Ukrainian World Congress’s international policy council, noting that the group works with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.