Ukrainian drones hit a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region early on Thursday, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a short-lived truce on energy strikes had ended. Russia’s Defense Ministry and Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said the attack set the plant on fire. A senior Ukrainian official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that Ukraine was behind it.
The Ryazan strike
The refinery belongs to Rosneft, sits about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Moscow and supplies the capital with fuel. It handles almost five percent of Russia’s total refining throughput and has been hit by drones several times in recent months. Malkov wrote on Telegram that damage was still being assessed and that emergency crews were on site. President Vladimir Putin, speaking the same day, played down the refinery campaign, saying Ukraine was hitting “here and there” with nothing particularly significant, and promised that Moscow would respond, Interfax reported.
Why Kyiv ended the pause
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had held off on refinery attacks since Sunday, when President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire in a surprise move. Trump had blamed the refineries for pushing up diesel prices worldwide. The Ukrainian government said it kept to the pause. Russia, by Kyiv’s account, did not: on Wednesday its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure left 600,000 people without power.
In an interview published Thursday, Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that Ukraine’s patience had run out. “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” he said. He added that he would accept a halt on energy strikes only if the United States supplied more Patriot interceptors, which he called the “minimum.”
Grievances with Washington
Ukrainian officials say that during the pause they received no U.S. early warnings of incoming Russian ballistic missiles. They also said Starlink’s military version had been slowed across the country, which hampered front-line operations and medium-range strikes on Russian military sites. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian commanders had been told Washington would block intelligence unless the energy strikes stopped, and that the suspension was first described to Kyiv as a technical glitch. He dismissed that explanation as a matter of “will.” Trump has said the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence. Elon Musk wrote on X that the U.S. government owns and controls the military version of the service and decides on any speed limits.
Zelenskyy also took aim at the diesel deal Trump struck with Putin to import Russian diesel, which he said would let Moscow press on with an invasion now in its fifth year. Speaking to Piers Morgan late Wednesday, he said he felt betrayed by the diesel deal, the ceasefire announcement and the Starlink problems. “Our country has to survive, and we count on our real partners,” he said. Trump, a day after announcing the diesel arrangement, had called on Saturday for Ukraine to replace Zelenskyy and attacked its strikes on Russian oil infrastructure. He framed the deal as a way to bring down fuel prices, which have climbed since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began in February. Twelve U.S. senators, six of them Republicans, have urged him to drop it.
The overnight barrage
Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 850 drones between midnight and Thursday morning, hitting 15 regions, and linked the timing to the limits on Ukraine’s defenses. Ukraine’s air force put the number of attacking drones at 580 and said 536 were shot down, though impacts were recorded at 31 locations. In central Kirovohrad region, a drone assault lasting more than 10 hours killed three people and wounded six, according to Ukraine’s Emergency Services; Governor Andriy Raikovych said more than 360 drones hit the region. Naftogaz reported that an attack on its gas-extraction facility in Poltava region halted operations and started a fire.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 166 Ukrainian drones overnight. Ukraine’s military said it damaged six Su-34M aircraft in a strike on the Borisoglebsk airfield in Voronezh region.
Sources
- Ukraine resumes attacks on Russian oil refineries, officials say, after brief truce
- Ukraine resumes attacks on Russian refineries, as Zelenskyy expresses frustration with U.S. | CBC News
- Ukraine resumes attacks on Russian oil refineries, officials say, after brief truce
