By Guy Birchall
Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian refineries after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “done” complying with an energy ceasefire proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukrainian drones conducted an assault on the Ryazan region of Russia during the night of Oct. 14 and the morning of Oct. 15, which caused a fire to break out at an oil refinery, according to Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov.
“Our region was subjected to a massive drone attack this night and morning,” Malkov said in an Oct. 15 post on Telegram, saying that, along with the refinery, a warehouse and vehicles at a business were damaged.
“According to preliminary information, there are no casualties. The property damage is currently being assessed. Emergency services are working on the scene.”
Ukraine said it had held off on targeting Russian refineries following Trump’s Oct. 11 announcement of an energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, which the American president had blamed for global spikes in diesel prices.
However, Zelenskyy said that Russia had continued to hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure, despite Trump’s assertion that they had agreed to the ceasefire. The Ukrainian president told the Financial Times in an interview published on Oct. 15 that Kyiv would resume attacks on Moscow’s refineries.
“The block on attacking refineries is out. We’re done,” he told the newspaper.
In the interview, Zelenskyy also criticized the Trump administration’s desire to make business deals with Moscow and accused the U.S. president of having an affinity for autocrats such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Trump speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people. Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong,” Zelenskyy said.
The Epoch Times contacted the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Over the weekend, Trump called for Zelenskyy to be replaced and criticized Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, a day after he announced a diesel supply deal between Moscow and Washington.
When asked by the Financial Times whether Ukraine would consider relenting on striking energy infrastructure to mend fences between Kyiv and Washington, he said his “minimum” requirement would be for the United States to send the country more Patriot interceptors.
During the nighttime fighting that saw Ukraine hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz said one of its gas production facilities in the Poltava region was attacked by a Russian drone.
Acting Naftogaz CEO Sergii Fedorenko said that “a fire broke out at the facility as a result of the drone strike.”
“Process equipment was damaged, and operations at the facility were suspended,” he added, with the company saying the full extent of the damage is still being assessed.
The Kremlin, on Oct. 15, following the publication of Zelenskyy’s interview and the attack on the Ryazan refinery, denied that Kyiv had ever let up on its campaign against Russian energy infrastructure.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, referring to earlier comments by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Novak, said there had never been a “moratorium” on such strikes by Ukraine.
“Strikes against our oil refineries and energy sector facilities have continued over the past few days. Therefore, there is nothing new here,” Peskov said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Peskov further stated that Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities were bringing Kyiv into “serious conflict with the peace efforts of the United States,” saying that Washington’s negotiators are “truly making very energetic efforts to somehow initiate the development of the peace process.”
“So far, these energetic attempts have been thwarted by the Kyiv regime’s and Zelenskyy’s personal reluctance to make peace,” he said, according to TASS.
