Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian refineries as Zelensky says ‘we’re done’

• Ukraine has resumed drone strikes on Russian refineries after a short pause, hitting an oil plant in Ryazan.
• Zelenskiy said Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid had left 600,000 people without power, and he warned Kyiv would not stop its own attacks unless Moscow also stopped.
• He criticised the US for cutting intelligence and slowing Starlink support, and said any new pause would need more US Patriot interceptors as the “minimum” acceptable deal.

KYIV – Ukraine has resumed its attacks on Russian refineries with a strike at an installation in the Ryazan region, the regional governor said on Oct 15, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced his anger at a “dangerous” withdrawal of US intelligence.

Since US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on Oct 11, Kyiv had refrained from attacking Russian refineries, which the US leader had blamed for raising diesel prices on global markets.

But Zelensky had voiced increasing frustration with Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which he said on Oct 14 had left 600,000 people without power.

He warned that Ukraine would not suspend its own attacks indefinitely if Russia did not reciprocate and also criticised what he said was Trump’s favouritism toward Russia.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Oct 15, he said Ukraine’s patience had run out.

“The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” Zelensky told the newspaper.

Pavel Malkov, the governor of Ryazan, said in a post on Telegram that a major Ukrainian drone attack on the region had sparked a fire at an oil refinery.

“The material damage is now being assessed. Emergency services are working at the scene,” he said.

In his interview, Zelensky was critical of Washington’s eagerness to strike business deals with Moscow and US President Donald Trump’s apparent admiration for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, the FT report said.

Trump on Oct 10 called for Ukraine to replace Zelensky and railed against Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, one day after announcing a diesel supply deal with Russia, aiming to ease pressure on fuel prices that have soared since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in February.

Despite Ukraine’s suspension of refinery attacks, Zelensky told the FT his forces had been left without US early-warning alerts for incoming ballistic missiles.

They also said Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications service had been slowed down across the country, hampering frontline operations and medium-range strikes against Russian military sites.

Musk said on Oct 14 in a post on X that Starshield – the military version of Starlink – was owned and controlled by the US government, which decided on any limits on speed.

Zelensky has said that Ukrainian military officials were warned by their US counterparts that Washington would block intelligence unless they halted strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

In the FT interview Zelensky said the suspension was presented to Kyiv as a technical glitch, but he dismissed the idea that failures of the Starlink satellite system might have been caused by a fault.

“It was not a technical problem, it was the will,” he told the FT.

Asked whether Ukraine would be open to halting energy strikes as a way of repairing relations with the White House, he told the newspaper he could only agree if in return he was given more US-made Patriot interceptors, calling it the “minimum” that would be acceptable. REUTERS