Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Will Resume Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries After Trump's Energy Ceasefire

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared that Ukraine will resume its strikes on Russian oil refineries, telling the Financial Times that the brief pause ordered after Donald Trump's announcement of an "energy ceasefire" is finished, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Main News Report

• Zelenskyy told the Financial Times in an interview published on Thursday: "The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We're done."
• The pause had followed Trump's announcement on Sunday of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine — something Kyiv said it first learnt about from media reports and which Moscow never publicly committed to.
• Ukraine halted its refinery strikes for two to three days, Zelenskyy said earlier on X, but resumed them after Russia continued pounding Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Russia struck seven Ukrainian energy facilities on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
• On Thursday, a Ukrainian drone struck a refinery in Russia's Ryazan region overnight — the strike that prompted the Kremlin's accusation that Kyiv was flouting US peace efforts.
• Asked whether Ukraine would halt the strikes again to repair relations with the White House, Zelenskyy said he could agree only in return for more US-made Patriot interceptors, calling them the "minimum" acceptable.

Background Context

The refinery strikes have been Kyiv's most effective asymmetric weapon against Moscow, targeting the revenue stream that funds Russia's war effort. The row over them has deepened a fast-unravelling Washington–Kyiv relationship: on Friday, Trump announced a diesel supply deal with Russia aimed at easing soaring fuel prices; on Saturday, he called for Ukraine to replace Zelenskyy and demanded Kyiv "damn well stop" hitting Russian oil infrastructure, as reported by Reuters.

The rupture follows an already strained stretch. Just a day earlier, PakInsight Hub reported that Elon Musk had blamed the Trump administration for speed limits on Starshield's Ukraine service that disrupted drone missions. In the FT interview, Zelenskyy added that during the pause, Ukraine was left without US early-warning alerts for incoming ballistic missiles, while Starlink service was slowed across the country — hampering frontline operations and medium-range strikes against Russian military sites.

Zelenskyy also revealed that Ukrainian military officials were told by their US counterparts: "if you will not stop (the energy strikes), we will block intelligence" — a threat later presented to Kyiv as a technical glitch. "It was not a technical problem, it was the will," he said.

Reactions and Statements

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy (to the Financial Times): "The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We're done." He criticised Washington's eagerness to strike business deals with Moscow and Trump's apparent admiration for Vladimir Putin.
• Dmitry Peskov (Kremlin spokesman): Said the strikes on Russian refineries ran counter to US peace efforts and that Moscow did not perceive Kyiv had ever complied with the ceasefire. "The Ukrainian regime in Kyiv continues to strike these facilities, thereby, of course, coming into serious contradiction with the peace efforts of the United States," he told reporters.
• US position: Trump's energy ceasefire was announced on Sunday without either side's prior commitment, Reuters noted; the White House has meanwhile pressured Kyiv to stop the refinery campaign, even as Russia continues striking Ukrainian energy sites.

Why This News Matters

• For Pakistan and other fuel-importing countries, the stakes are direct: Trump's diesel deal with Russia was explicitly aimed at taming fuel prices that have soared since the US–Israeli war with Iran began in February. A resumed Ukrainian refinery campaign risks tightening global fuel supplies further — and pump prices in Pakistan tend to follow.
• It marks the near-total collapse of the energy ceasefire Trump claimed between the two sides, escalating the war just as Europe heads into winter with energy grids under attack.
• The open clash between Zelenskyy and Washington over who cut intelligence and slowed satellite services is the sharpest public rupture in the alliance yet.

Future Developments

• Whether the White House answers Zelenskyy's demand for more Patriot interceptors — the "minimum" price for halting the strikes again.
• How far Ukraine goes in its resumed campaign: earlier waves of strikes hit refineries deep inside Russia, and a wider campaign could invite heavier retaliation on Ukraine's energy grid.
• Whether Trump's administration follows through on any threat to withhold intelligence or other support from Kyiv.
• The effect on global oil and diesel markets — and, by extension, fuel prices in Pakistan — in the coming weeks.

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