Zelenskyy, Trump On Collision Course as Ukraine resumes oil refinery hits in Russia
KYIV: 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 US President Trump. The drone strike started a fire at the refinery about 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to the Russian defence ministry and Ryazan governor 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 with Washington.Zelenskyy said he was outraged by Russia’s continuing aerial bombardment of his country’s 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, Zelensky complained, Ukraine in recent days was denied the usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and limits were placed on its use of US-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 confirmed that Ukraine had hit the refinery. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Ukraine never stopped its strikes on refineries that have hurt Russia. It wasn’t possible to independently verify each side’s claims.Amid fears that the Trump administration may be withdrawing support for Ukraine, Zelenskyy went to Brussels Thursday for talks with EU leaders attending a two-day summit. Zelenskyy said he would meet with Nato chief Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the PMs of Poland, Denmark and Belgium.In other developments, three people were killed and six others injured after the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine came under a Russian drone attack lasting more than 10 hours, Ukraine’s emergency services said Thursday.
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