With a Russian-flagged oil tanker approaching Cuban waters, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he would rather let it pass and that he has no objections to the island receiving the fuel shipment.

"We have an oil tanker out there. It doesn't bother us that someone is getting a load of oil, because they have to survive," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked about the matter, in what appears to be a shift from his rhetoric of recent days.

"If a country wants to send some oil to Cuba right now, I have no problem with that," Trump said. "I'd rather let it go through, whether it's Russia or another country," the Republican leader added, explaining his reasoning: "People need heat" — he said of the tropical island — "refrigeration, and all the other things that are needed."

On January 29, Trump signed an executive order declaring a "national emergency" with respect to Cuba, citing what Washington described as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" posed by the Caribbean nation to the United States. On that basis, the administration announced the imposition of tariffs on countries supplying oil to Cuba, along with threats and coercive measures against any states that defied the executive order.

The Anatoly Kolodkin, which departed Russia in early March carrying 730,000 barrels of oil, is believed to be approaching Cuban waters. According to the specialized maritime tracking platform MarineTraffic, the vessel was in the Caribbean Sea Sunday afternoon, en route to the port of Matanzas, where it could arrive as early as Tuesday, March 31.

Trump downplayed criticism suggesting that allowing the tanker to proceed benefits Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He's losing a load of oil, that's all," Trump said, before adding: "If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to as well, it doesn't bother me in the least."

It was, however, Trump himself who intensified the situation on the island with his executive order. The resulting fuel shortage has made daily life even more difficult for the Cuban people, who for more than six decades have endured the effects of what stands as the longest-running economic, commercial, and financial blockade ever imposed against any nation.