Oil Prices Pare Losses After Putin Warns Europe About War

• According to a Reuters report, Putin claimed that European powers were blocking U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine war.
• He also suggested that European countries had effectively sidelined themselves from any Ukraine peace talks by cutting off direct communication with Moscow.
• Putin’s comments came ahead of his scheduled meeting with Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Moscow.

Oil prices pared some of their earlier losses on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow is prepared to go to war with Europe if it seeks one, ahead of a meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Benchmark Brent oil prices fell 0.4% to $62.92 per barrel, while WTI crude prices fell $0.21 to $59.12 per barrel, at the time of writing. Both contracts were down earlier, before rebounding a bit.

What Did Putin Say?

According to a Reuters report, Putin claimed that European powers were blocking U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the Ukraine war. He argued that they put forward proposals they knew Moscow would never accept, so that they could later blame Russia for refusing to pursue peace.

Putin’s comments came ahead of his scheduled meeting with Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in Moscow. According to a leaked draft peace proposal last month, Ukraine could be forced to hand over large swathes of land and reduce the size of its army as per the Trump administration’s plan.

He also suggested that European countries had effectively sidelined themselves from any Ukraine peace talks by cutting off direct communication with Moscow. "They are on the side of war," Putin said.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about the United States Oil Fund (USO) was in the ‘bullish’ territory at the time of writing, compared with ‘extremely bearish’ a month ago.

Geopolitical uncertainty has been providing support to oil prices amid concerns about oversupply. The OPEC+ oil producer group on Sunday reaffirmed its commitment not to change production levels in the first three months of 2026

The International Energy Agency and major oil research agencies have predicted an oil market surplus in 2026 after OPEC+ brought back about three million barrels per day of oil production this year to gain market share.  

Also See: Boeing Stock Gains After CFO Projects Positive Free Cash Flow, Higher Deliveries Next Year

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