Ukraine has resumed drone attacks on Russian oil refineries despite US President Donald Trump’s efforts to persuade Kyiv to halt strikes on Moscow’s energy infrastructure, signalling growing differences between Washington and Kyiv over the conduct of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that Kyiv had never agreed to a proposed 30-day suspension of attacks on Russian oil refineries, which was reportedly conveyed by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner Citing Russian state media, Ukrainian long-range drones set fire to the Kstovo oil refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region overnight on Sunday, according to a report by The Guardian. The attack followed another strike on the Rosneft-owned Novokuybyshevsk refinery in the Samara region on Friday.
In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks had targeted four Ukrainian regions overnight, leaving hundreds of thousands of households without electricity. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kyiv was continuing its strikes despite Washington’s position. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has defended strikes on Russian targets, arguing that Kyiv is responding to Moscow’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. He accused Moscow of exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of ballistic missile interceptors, saying the intensity of Russian strikes remained extremely high. Moscow has maintained that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy facilities undermine efforts to reach a negotiated settlement.