KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery Thursday, abandoning a brief truce involving energy-related targets that it said Moscow did not heed, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The drone strike started a fire at the refinery about 180 miles southeast of Moscow in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov. Russia’s Astra online news outlet posted what it said was a photograph of the blaze.
The strike could further complicate Kyiv’s relations with Trump, which have soured again in recent days amid deepening tensions between Ukraine and Washington.
Zelenskyy said he was outraged by Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of energy infrastructure in apparent defiance of Trump’s demand on Sunday for both sides to halt those attacks.
Despite going along with Trump’s demand for a truce, Zelenskyy complained, Ukraine in recent days was denied the usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and limits were placed on its use of U.S.-made Starlink communication terminals. Both are vital for the Ukrainian military.
He said his patience had run out, telling the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries would resume.
“We’re done,” Zelenskyy was quoted as saying.
A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that Ukraine had hit the refinery.
Zelenskyy slams US deal to buy Russian diesel
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Ukraine never stopped its strikes on refineries. It wasn’t possible to independently verify each side’s claims.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeled Ukraine’s strikes on oil facilities as a “direct and crude challenge to President Trump.”
Another point of tension with Ukraine is a deal Trump made with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, despite international efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion and diplomatically isolate Putin.
Zelenskyy slammed the agreement, saying it would allow Russia to press on with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began more than 4½ years ago. U.S. efforts under Trump to end the war have made no progress.
In an interview late Wednesday with Piers Morgan on the British journalist’s YouTube show, Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by Trump’s deal with Putin, the energy ceasefire announcement and the Starlink limits that restricted the use of Ukrainian drones.
Asked if he felt betrayed by the American president, he said, “Really, yes, between us.”
“Our country has to survive, and we count on our real partners, strategic partners, the United States and President Trump,” Zelenskyy told Morgan.
He said the behavior of the U.S., including restricting the Starlink system, “was really strange.”
