How did Ukrainians end up sailing in Russia's shadow fleet?

The Europeans | European news, politics and culture

Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer

Politics, News, Society & Culture

4.8 • 162 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, Elon Musk’s company SpaceX swept in to restore internet connectivity to areas that had been affected by Russian attacks. But SpaceX and its internet service, Starlink, have hardly remained indisputable forces for good in the war in Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Kyiv Independent revealed that a fleet of old, rusty ships has been transporting hundreds of millions of barrels of Russian oil… with Starlink’s help. Investigative journalist Tanya Kozyreva joins us to explain what her reporting uncovered about how Starlink is used by the Russian “shadow fleet” – and how Ukrainian sailors have found themselves onboard. We’re also joined by The Europeans’ resident Luxembourger, Nina Lamparski, to discuss a resurgence of bison in Europe and the imperiled fate of halloumi.

JOIN OUR BOOK CLUB: We’re so excited to be partnering with our friends at the European Review of Books on a new audio book club! Want to read along with us? We’ll be discussing our first pick, Vincenzo Latronico’s Perfection, on 14 May.

Resources for this episode:

“From biodiversity to carbon capture: Saving bison from extinction has brought big benefits to Europe” – Euronews, 8 April 2026
“Foot-and-Mouth Disease - questions and answers” – European Commission
“Disease and division threaten Halloumi in latest Cyprus-Turkey spat” – Politico, 10 April 2026
Our 2021 episode about halloumi, “Cheese Diplomacy”
“Exclusive: We discovered what’s going on inside Russia’s shadow fleet” – Kyiv Independent, 1 April 2026

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Produced by Morgan Childs and Katy Lee

Editorial support from Katz Laszlo

Mixing and mastering by Wojciech Oleksiak

Music by Jim Barne and Mariska Martina

The Europeans is proudly produced using Europe’s own Hindenburg.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast has been produced in cooperation with Euronet Plus, the leading radio network for EU news.
0:11.4	But this podcast would not be possible without the incredibly generous support of our amazing listeners who donate a little bit each month at patreon.com forward the Europeans podcast, the show that I think should come with a health warning,
0:52.6	because we are going to fill your ears
0:54.9	with so many European stories that you'll need a doctor to syringe it all out by the end of
1:00.5	the episode. I'm Dominic Kramer. I'm in Amsterdam and I'm joined this week by our favorite
1:05.8	Luxembourgish journalist Nina Lamparski in the co-hosting seat. Hi, Nina. Hi, Dominic. You may notice that I'm
1:14.2	sat against the background that might seem familiar because I have infiltrated Katie's house.
1:19.9	I thought I recognized it. So Katie has a week off and instead you go to her house and record
1:27.2	while she is sitting in another room.
1:29.1	Making her work. Yeah, that's good. Quite right. And I believe it's just been your birthday.
1:33.2	Happy birthday, Nina. Thank you so much. Yes, it has been this weekend. I had a little party to
1:38.7	celebrate and good fun was had. Quite a few European nationalities in the house, and a shout out to the person
1:45.8	who broke my fridge door, with a fine of a good party. But yeah, I mean, more pressing things.
1:53.1	I feel like we should talk about Auburn, Victor Orban. Yes, well, that election result could
1:58.9	have been seen as a late birthday present for you,
2:01.6	because after 16 consecutive years in power and a four-year stint before that,
2:07.1	Victor Oban lost the election this weekend.
2:10.0	Peter Majjar, the political upstart, who came from Orban's own political tradition,
2:14.9	has defeated him in the most spectacular political win. His party
2:20.5	teaser is a pro-European centre-right party and it looks like they've just won a two-thirds majority
2:27.0	in the Hungarian parliament, meaning that Mayr might actually be able to do some of the
2:32.7	incredibly difficult work of unpicking Orbán's influence
	...

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