A Russian tanker carrying what Moscow claims is a humanitarian shipment of crude oil has arrived in Cuba, the "Moscow Times" reports.
The "Anatoly Kolodkin" ship is expected to unload about 100,000 tons of oil at the port of Matanzas, the Ministry of Transportation said.
The shipment comes as Cuba faces a deepening energy crisis, marked by widespread power outages after a US fuel embargo sharply curtailed oil supplies in recent months.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington would not oppose oil shipments to the island, including from Russia.
"If any country wants to send oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with that," he said.
His words contradict a change to a US Treasury Department authorization issued earlier this month that prohibits transactions involving Russian oil shipments to Cuba.
Although the shipment - the first of its kind to Cuba since January - could offer short-term relief, Trump renewed his criticism of the Cuban government, predicting that it would collapse "in a short period of time".
"I would rather let him go", he said, referring to "Anatoly Kolodkin". "Whether it's Russia or somebody else, because people need heating, cooling and all the other things that they need".
Earlier, marine tracking data showed that the ship left the port of Primorsk in northwestern Russia on March 8 with 730,000 barrels of crude oil on board.
"Anatoly Kolodkin" is a Russian facility sanctioned by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom.
Moscow described the supplies to Cuba as humanitarian aid.
Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said last week that Moscow would continue to supply fuel to the island, in a sign of defiance of U.S. restrictions.
Cuba, which imports about 60 percent of its energy supplies, previously relied on oil sold by Venezuela. But those supplies ended after then-President Nicolas Maduro was captured in a U.S. military operation.