Zelensky Lifts Refinery Strike Ban as Putin Threatens Reply
Three days after Trump announced an energy truce, Zelensky says refineries are fair targets again, while Putin in Moscow promises strikes on Ukrainian energy and data centers.
The energy truce that U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, October 11, lasted three days on the Ukrainian side. Kyiv has ended its pause in attacks on Russian refineries, and Vladimir Putin announced new strikes on Ukrainian energy in Moscow. Meanwhile, Moscow reported an attempted mass attack on a refinery in Ryazan, and the Kremlin said after Trump’s announcement that there are still no concrete terms for the truce.
What did Zelensky say about the ban on refinery attacks?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left no room for interpretation in an interview with the Financial Times, published Thursday, October 15: “The blockade [on attacks on refineries] has been lifted. We are done.”
A few hours later, Pavel Malkov, governor of the Ryazan region, reported a fire at the refinery there. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Kyiv had attempted a “mass attack on the oil refinery in Ryazan” overnight. The cause of the fire has not been confirmed in the available sources.
Kyiv stopped attacking refineries for three days, but says Russia was hitting its power grid the whole time.
Pressure from Washington
Zelensky also told the Financial Times why he lost patience. According to him, American interlocutors told Ukrainian military officials that intelligence would be blocked if the energy strikes did not stop. The incident was later presented to Kyiv as a technical fault. Several ballistic strikes on Kyiv arrived, Zelensky says, without the usual warning from partners. He called the withdrawal of support “dangerous” and added that fighting without America would be “very hard.” In a conversation with Piers Morgan on Wednesday, he said he feels “betrayed” by Trump’s moves.
A few days earlier, Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel exports and asked Ukraine to stop hitting Russian oil facilities, and NBC News reported that he also called for Zelensky’s removal. European and Ukrainian officials told NBC News they see those moves as an attempt to push Kyiv into concessions while peace talks are stalled.
Starshield and more than 850 drones
On Wednesday, Kyiv reported a slowdown of Starlink terminals, specifically Starshield, the military version that Ukraine’s army uses for drone navigation, air defense and early warning. Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Washington, Denis Sjenik, told NBC News on Thursday that speeds have been restored to their earlier level for now, but that Kyiv has received no explanation from SpaceX or the Pentagon.
“Speed is critical for logistics and for intercepting jet-powered Shahed drones,” Sjenik said. “We hope it stays unchanged.”
Elon Musk wrote that the U.S. military and, ultimately, Trump decide on limiting Starshield, and overnight he wrote that it is “time for Zelensky to go.” We previously reported on the earlier restriction of the system, when Starlink was slowed in Ukraine and drone missions were canceled.
Zelensky said Russia launched more than 850 drones from early Wednesday morning to Thursday, hundreds of them between midnight and 9 a.m. on Thursday. ABC News reports that the figure covers the period from Wednesday morning, while NBC News ties the same figure to the time from Thursday morning. The Ukrainian president said of this:
“It is evident that Russia deliberately chose to escalate its attacks after it received sanctions relief and saw the attempts to pressure Ukraine. Russia uses every such opportunity and must answer for what it is doing.”
Zelensky also said the following on Thursday:
“Strong decisions are needed to end this war. Ukraine needs steady support, above all in defending our skies. We need HONESTY from our partners about this war: it is important that everyone in America stand not with the aggressor, but with our efforts to protect lives, end the war and guarantee security.”
The effects of the attacks are visible in several places. In Kropyvnytskyi, firefighters arrived at the scene after a drone hit an enterprise, and on the outskirts of Dnipro a private house was destroyed in an air strike, according to Reuters photographs from October 15.
What did Putin say at the Business Russia forum?
On October 15, at the Business Russia forum in Moscow, Putin said new strikes on Ukrainian energy and data processing centers are possible, in response to attacks on refineries. He admitted that some facilities were hit but played it down: “Yesterday they tried to strike some oil refineries, and some were hit. But nothing significant.”
He portrayed Russia as the side that is only responding: “They took the first step, and we have now begun to respond.” He added that after Russian strikes Ukraine turns to Western partners to influence Moscow, and told them: “They should have thought carefully about the consequences before they took that step.”
