This image seems to have been contributed to WikiMedia Commons by an individual. I would guess that this is a Ukrainian expressing their hopes for Ukraine in the EU. But, do they already know how cynically the EU is behaving in relation to Ukraine? While EU parliamentarians wrap themselves in Ukrainian flags and Ursula von der Leyen promises eternal military support, (outside her remit), [1] they can’t even bring themselves to drop the thermostat by one degree. These are the figures for EU imports of Russian gas:
The unfortunate fact is that, when measured in monetary value, the EU is importing as much Russian gas in Q2 2025 as in Q1 2021, before the war. It seems to be approximately 4 Billion Euros in the quarter. Also in terms of monetary value the EU is importing more fertiliser, one of Russia’s chief exports, than before the war. Oil, however, has dropped substantially, from approximately 14 Billion Euros in Q1 2021 to approximately 1 Billion Euros in Q2 2025. [2] This astonishing fact; the gas imports, is just about mentioned in the mainstream media [3], but barely. It certainly isn’t a headline, and I don’t think I’ve seen it at all in the Guardian. 4 Billion Euros will be providing substantial tax revenues for the Kremlin’s war effort. The explanation for this fact, with relation to the gas, seems to be that while imports of pipeline gas have been reduced substantially, imports of LNG have increased and, in addition, the price of gas has increased. Reuters says that before for the war the EU imported approximately 45% of its gas needs, altogether, from Russia and now meets 19% of its needs from Russia. [4] There are plans to try to reduce this further with the necessary machinations to get around vetoes by Hungary and Slovakia, the two EU members not fully on board with the EU’s war on Russia. [4]
Still, from a purely moral point of view, is it just me, or is there something farcical about Von der Leyen’s and Kaja Kallas’ endless ‘moral’ denunciations of Russia while their organisation is spending as much on Russian gas today as before Russia’s ‘invasion’ of Ukraine, which they condemn? At the same time as they promise to spend billions on arms for Ukraine, (arms which they may or may not be able to produce with money which they may or may not be able to find), they definitely provide “Putin’s war chest” with billions…
Did the Ukrainians pick the wrong side? That could be a truly horrible truth for them to discover. Of course, the real tragedy is that the EU and Russia could have worked this all out, diplomatically, meaning that Ukraine did not need to choose, – a failure, which in the view of this web site is about 80% attributable to the EU – who refused all diplomacy and who betrayed Minsk.
Notes
- https://www.dw.com/en/germany-criticizes-eu-remarks-on-plans-to-deploy-to-ukraine/live-73828369
- https://thenewobserver.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/eu-imports-of-goods-from-russia-q1-2021-and-q2-2025.pdf
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/europe/us-europe-trade-business-with-russia-intl
- https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/eu-readies-ban-russian-gas-imports-by-end-2027-2025-06-17/