MOSCOW (AP) — Russia plans to send a second oil tanker to Cuba, the country’s energy minister said Thursday, citing the island’s ongoing energy blockade and reiterating Russia’s solidarity with the troubled Caribbean nation.
The announcement comes just two days after sanctioned Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin docked at the Cuban port of Matanzas laden with 730,000 barrels of oil, marking the first time in three months that an oil tanker reached the island. Experts have said that shipment could produce about 180,000 barrels of diesel, enough to feed Cuba’s daily demand for nine or 10 days.
Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilyov spoke on the sidelines of an energy forum in the Russian city of Kazan.
“Cuba is in a total blockade, it’s been cut off. Whose shipment of oil made it? A Russian vessel broke through the blockade. A second one is being loaded right now, we will not leave Cubans alone in trouble,” Tsivilyov said.
In Havana, hundreds of people gathered aboard bicycles, motorcycles and small, three-wheeled vehicles to protest the U.S. embargo against Cuba.
“Yes to Cuba! No to the blockade!” the crowd yelled as it zoomed along Havana's famed seawall, past the U.S. Embassy and toward the downtown area.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other officials watched the march go by but refrained from participating.
“Who’s afraid here? Who is going to surrender here?” some people riding electric scooters shouted.
Among those participating in the protest was 33-year-old Havana resident Yeni López. “We came by bicycle, given the situation the country is facing in the current context, to reaffirm that we will always be present.”
In late January, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba, although he recently said he had “no problem” with the Russian oil tanker that delivered relief to the island on Tuesday, saying he didn't think it would help prop up the Cuban government.
“Cuba’s finished,” Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington on Sunday. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”
Cuba produces barely 40% of its required fuel and relies on imports to sustain its crumbling energy grid.
Critical oil shipments from Venezuela were halted when the U.S. attacked the South American country and arrested its leader.
Since then, Mexico also has halted its oil shipments to Cuba after Trump warned of tariffs.
The U.S. energy blockade has deepened Cuba's energy and economic crises, leading to severe blackouts, cuts to the state-run food ration system, and shortages of water and medicine, with the island's most vulnerable hardest hit.
Associated Press reporter Milexsy Durán in Havana contributed to this report.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Russian-flagged oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin approaches Matanzas in Matanzas, Cuba, Tuesday, March 31, 2026.. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has privately discussed the possibility of firing Attorney General Pam Bondi and replacing her with Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, three people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday.
In those conversations, Trump has discussed his ongoing frustration with Bondi over her handing of the Jeffrey Epstein files and hurdles the Department of Justice has encountered in investigations into Trump’s perceived enemies, the people said. The Republican president has mentioned other candidates but has raised Zeldin’s name as recently as this week, the people said.
The people were not authorized to publicly discuss the private conversations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
No decision has been announced, and Trump has been known to change his mind on personnel decisions.
"Attorney General Pam Bondi is a wonderful person and she is doing a good job,” Trump said in a statement produced by the White House.
Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, has emerged as a Trump favorite and was praised by the president at an event in February as “our secret weapon."
He is widely viewed as a loyal Trump ally and has been eager to pursue Trump’s deregulatory agenda. Like Trump, Zeldin regularly derides Democrats’ efforts to fight climate change as the “Green New Scam" and he joined Trump at the White House when the administration revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions a nd slow climate change.
Bondi has also endured months of scrutiny over her department’s handling of the Epstein files that made her the target of angry conservatives even with her close relationship with Trump.
Under Bondi’s leadership, the department opened investigations into a string of Trump foes, including Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan.
The high-profile prosecutions of Comey and James were quickly thrown out by a judge who ruled that the prosecutor who brought the cases was illegally appointed. Other politically charged investigations have either been rejected by grand juries or failed to result in criminal charges.
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks with Attorney General Pam Bondi during a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Attorney General Pam Bondi arrives before President Donald Trump speaks about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion on public safety at a Tennessee Air National Guard Base, Monday, March 23, 2026, in Memphis, Tenn., with Attorney General Pam Bondi, right. (AP Photo/Bruce Newman)
Attorney General Pam Bondi listens during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Thursday, March 26, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump walks from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
