Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian oil refineries despite pressure from Trump
Ukrainian long-range drones set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Russia on Sunday, as strikes on oil facilities resumed despite US President Donald Trump's pressure to halt them. A six-day local ceasefire in Oleshky is due to end.
Ukraine has resumed drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, disregarding pressure from US President Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections. Russian state media reported on Sunday that Ukrainian long-range drones set fire overnight to the Kstovo refinery in Russia's Nizhny Novgorod region, shortly after a major strike on another large refinery in the Samara region owned by state energy company Rosneft. The strikes matter because they hit Russia's fuel sector while testing relations between Kyiv and Washington during the war.
Dispute with Washington
The Wall Street Journal had reported that Ukraine yielded to White House pressure to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that they never accepted a demand from Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, to pause refinery strikes for 30 days. Kremlin officials said the raids restarted on Friday and that Kyiv was "simply ignoring" US wishes. Trump has blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for rising global fuel prices and last month lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel.
Zelenskyy has not acknowledged the refinery attacks. He said instead that his forces hit a missile-producing defence enterprise in Russia's Rostov region and destroyed a Pantsir air defence system, describing it as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions".
Russian strikes and the front
Zelenskyy said Ukraine must retaliate for Moscow's campaign against city energy facilities. Overnight Russia hit four Ukrainian regions, cutting power to hundreds of thousands of households. In Kyiv, outages lasted eight to 10 hours on Sunday after a critical thermal power plant was damaged. According to Zelenskyy, Russia lost 54,400 troops killed and wounded in October, the highest monthly figure since the full-scale invasion began, while Ukraine regained 96.2 sq km of territory, 10.4 sq km more than Russia captured.
Oleshky ceasefire and talks
A six-day local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, is due to end. Hundreds of residents were reunited with relatives over the weekend, and both sides called the evacuation a success. Ukrainian observers say Russian forces used the truce to reinforce positions and rotate troops, and expect a renewed assault. The pope said he hopes the cooperation will encourage dialogue. Trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US may take place this month, and the Kremlin says Putin is willing to speak to Zelenskyy by phone without European leaders. A wider breakthrough looks unlikely, as Moscow still demands all of Donetsk region and further territory in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
