MATANZAS — President Donald Trump said he has no problem with a Russian oil tanker delivering relief to Cuba. The sanctioned Russian oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin has entered Cuban territorial waters, according to ship-tracking data.

"I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem whether it's Russia or not," Trump said. "We have a tanker out there."

The oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin is under sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. On March 12, the US Treasury Department issued a license prohibiting Cuba from receiving Russian oil, adding Cuba to the list of restricted countries, according to a US Treasury license.

The Trump administration temporarily eased sanctions on Russia to improve the flow of oil on world markets. Sanctions on Russia were imposed largely to penalize the Kremlin for its war on Ukraine.

The oil tanker Anatoly Kolodkin departed the Russian port of Primorsk after loading approximately 700,000 barrels of crude, according to tracking services Marine Traffic and LSEG. Tracking data show that the oil tanker, carrying approximately 730,000 barrels of oil, was off the eastern tip of Cuba on Sunday night and is scheduled to arrive in the port city of Matanzas by Tuesday.

The tanker is expected to offload its cargo at the port of Matanzas in Cuba, according to tracking services Marine Traffic and LSEG. Cuba is experiencing island-wide power blackouts, and shortages of gasoline and essential goods have reduced hospital operations and limited public transport services.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the easing of sanctions on Russia would help Moscow fund its invasion of Ukraine. Two sailboats departed from Mexico carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba as part of the Nuestra América Convoy on March 20 and arrived in Havana on March 28.