According to a new study, Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is being bolstered by GBP 217 million (USD 285 million) in payments for oil every day by European Union countries. The EU is moving rapidly to unveil a strategy to break free from Russian oil and gas. This break may take "years" and will be expensive for European taxpayers, but Putin's invasion of Ukraine has finally created the urgency to stop Russia from holding Europe hostage to geopolitical energy insecurity and speed up its energy transition.
DW: How Russia's war and international sanctions impact global energy and food security, March 3, 2022.
BBC: Russia accused of blackmailing Europe over gas supplies, October 6, 2021.
France 24: Ukraine crisis could be 'historic turning point' for European energy, IEA chief Birol says, February 24, 2022.
About Alexandra Bowman
Alexandra Bowman is World War Zero's cartoonist in residence. She is a political cartoonist and satirist, creating work with The Lincoln Project and environmental newsletter Our Daily Planet. Bowman's illustrations have been published by BBC News, BBC Books, Puffin Books, the Georgetown University Institute of Politics and Public Service, the National Wildlife Federation, and Penguin Random House UK. As a rising senior at Georgetown University, she is double majoring in English and Art and will be graduating early with a Master's in English in May 2023. Bowman also founded The Hilltop Show, a political comedy webseries run by over 50 undergraduate and graduate student members from around the world, and serves as its host and Lead Satirical Writer.
