The White House’s unilateral effort to negotiate an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine has collapsed as Moscow sent a record swarm of drones overnight to attack infrastructure in central Ukraine and Kyiv appeared to resume strikes on Russian oil refineries – despite warnings from Donald Trump.
Moscow accused Ukraine of launching its first strike against a Russian oil refinery in the Ryazan region since Trump abruptly declared an “energy ceasefire” that neither Russia nor Ukraine said they had agreed to. Trump has demanded that Volodymyr Zelenskyy stop attacking Russian oil refineries, claiming that it was the cause of a global rise in the price of diesel fuel.
Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that he would resume strikes on Russian oil refineries after halting those attacks to show that Ukraine was ready for peace talks. “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” he told the Financial Times. He also attacked the gap in US intelligence sharing as “dangerous”.
Images from Ryazan showed flames at the refinery, which regional officials said had been targeted by 69 drones and four Flamingo cruise missiles. Debris from a drone struck by anti-aircraft fire had hit the refinery and sparked the fire, the ministry claimed.
In Ukraine, more than 360 Russian drones targeted Kirovohrad, a central region that has been hit less hard than others closer to Russia, in attacks that killed three and injured six.
“The enemy deliberately hit critical infrastructure, transport enterprises, logistics facilities and residential homes,” the regional governor, Andriy Raikovych, said in a statement.
Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine with more than 850 Shahed drones at a time when the speed of Ukraine’s defensive capabilities was being “artificially restricted”, a reference to the sudden limitations on Ukraine’s use of the Starlink and Starshield mobile internet terminals.
“It is obvious that Russia deliberately chose to escalate its attacks after receiving sanctions relief and seeing attempts to pressure Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said, referring to a growing quarrel with the Trump administration. “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 this war, and guarantee security.”
Trump suddenly declared an “energy ceasefire” last week, writing on TruthSocial: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”
Despite Trump’s claims, however, Russia continued to launch heavy strikes on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, using hypersonic and ballistic missiles to target key Ukrainian power plants, leaving cities including Kyiv without power and water for hours. Ukraine said it would not strike Russian oil refineries in the interim in order to show that it was ready for negotiations.
But the White House piled pressure on Zelenskyy to capitulate to Russia by threatening to cut programmes to deliver arms to Ukraine and to stop sharing US battlefield intelligence with Ukraine.
The US appeared to make good on some threats. Ukraine said it had not received advance warning of Russian missile strikes for several days from the United States this week. And on Wednesday, Ukrainian soldiers also complained that their access to Starshield programmes controlled by the US military had been restricted, scuppering drone missions on the frontlines.
The feud between Zelenskyy and Trump has spun out of control over the last week. Trump, who believes that his support for Ukraine should come with a degree of control over the country’s leadership, has said that Ukraine should “get a new president”.
Asked on Thursday by Piers Morgan whether he felt betrayed, Zelenskyy said yes. “It’s a pity that we are losing, we are losing a strong partner,” he said.
Musk, the powerful head of SpaceX, which produces the Starlink terminals used by Ukraine’s military, has emerged as a top critic of Zelenskyy in the United States.
On Thursday, Musk denied throttling the Starlink systems and said they were controlled by the US government. But in a post commenting on a Zelenskyy statement that Ukraine would continue to fight until Russia’s defeat, he wrote: “And so the slaughter continues … Time for Zelensky to go.”
