- comes hours after US President Donald Trump said that he had no problem with countries, including Russia, sending supplies to the island. Trump's remark appeared to signal a loosening of a de facto oil blockade his administration had imposed on Cuba since January. Cuba has been experiencing a series of nation-wide blackouts as the blockade exacerbated existing fuel shortages. Russian media reports the Russian tanker Anatoly Kolodkin was carrying a "humanitarian shipment" of 100,000 tonnes of crude oil. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that severe fuel shortages meant that Cuban hospitals were struggling to maintain emergency and intensive care services. Cuba's situation has deteriorated rapidly since 3 January, when US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro - a staunch ally of the Cuban government - who had been providing the island with oil under highly preferential terms. Trump also threatened to impose tariffs on any nation sending oil to Cuba. (BBC)