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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 300 kilometers (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.
Read more:
- Carney says Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ could ‘de-escalate’ war in Ukraine
- Trump says Russia and Ukraine reach ‘energy ceasefire’
- Ukraine claims to have taken out more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity
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, 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 that have hurt Russia. 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 4 1/2 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.
“Really, yes, between us,” Zelenskyy told Morgan when asked if he felt betrayed by the American president. “Our country has to survive, and we count on our real partners, strategic partners, the United States and President Trump.”
He said the behavior of the U.S., including restricting the Starlink system, “was really strange.”
Zelenskyy says U.S. position isn’t ‘on the right side of history’
In the same interview, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “losing a strong partner” in the United States.
“It’s painful when President Trump chooses one side, not our side. But we are OK that he’s in the middle,” he said.
Zelenskyy said someone is pushing Trump into a stance that is “not the right side of history.”
Elon Musk noted on X that the military version of Starlink, called Starshield, is controlled by the U.S. military and Trump.
A Ukrainian official said the country has not received an explanation from either SpaceX, the company that maintains the Starlink satellites, or the Pentagon, on the slowdown. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
The Pentagon has not answered questions about the slowdown from The Associated Press either.
The absence of Western intelligence leaves Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian ballistic missiles. Trump has said the U.S. hasn’t stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
Ukraine looks to Europe for more help
Amid fears that the Trump administration may be withdrawing support for Ukraine, Zelenskyy went to Brussels on Thursday for talks with European Union leaders attending a two-day summit.
Zelenskyy said he would meet with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the prime ministers of Poland, Denmark and Belgium.
The previous day, he visited London, where he won pledges of more help from U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Asked whether the EU still trusts Trump, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, replied: “We definitely have a different approach to this war. We see that we have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim to surrender.”
“Squeezing Ukraine is not the right approach, and that is why Europe is standing beside Ukraine,” Kallas told reporters.
Russian strike in Ukraine kills 3 civilians
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.
Between midnight and Thursday morning, Russia launched more than 850 drones at Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on X, adding that the barrage came “precisely at a time when the speed of our defensive capabilities is being artificially restricted.”
Russian aerial attacks hit 15 Ukrainian regions, he said.
“It is obvious that Russia deliberately chose to escalate its attacks after receiving sanctions relief and seeing attempts to pressure Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “It is important that everyone in America stand not with the aggressor, but with our efforts to protect lives, end this war and guarantee security.”
Ukrainian air defenses stopped 536 Russian drones during a large-scale overnight attack, the Ukrainian air force said, but impacts were recorded at 31 locations.
A Ukrainian missile destroyed six warplanes at an airfield in southwestern Russia, Zelenskyy said. The aircraft were used to launch powerful glide bombs, he said.
“Russia is dragging out the war, so our long-range operations will continue,” he said on social media.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 166 Ukrainian drones overnight and that Russian forces hit two vessels carrying military cargo.
