Zelensky: Ukraine Ready to Stop Refinery Strikes if Russia Halts Attacks on Its Energy Grid

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on 11 October that Ukraine is prepared to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure. In his words, any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees. Zelensky said attacks on energy facilities could be halted as early as today, but Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want that.

Talks with European leaders

The president said talks with European leaders would continue today. According to him, Ukraine coordinates its actions with partners every day at various levels and is working on additional defence support packages, mainly for air defence and munitions for combat aircraft.

Latest Russian attacks

Zelensky also pointed to the damage caused by recent strikes. On Sunday morning, search and rescue operations ended in Zaporizhzhia after a Russian attack that destroyed residential buildings and killed 23 people, including four children. The day before, Russian forces hit a medical facility in Kharkiv, and overnight the attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, residential buildings and energy sites.

In the morning, Russian forces struck a five-storey apartment building in Sloviansk. One entire stairwell section was destroyed, and people may still be under the rubble. Zelensky said that in this week alone Russia has used around 1,450 aerial bombs, 75 missiles of various types and more than 1,640 attack drones, about 60% of them jet-powered.

Background

On Friday, US President Donald Trump said he had reached an agreement with Putin on diesel fuel supplies. Media reports say US representatives, in talks with a Ukrainian delegation in Miami, threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Ukraine if Kyiv keeps attacking Russian refineries. Reports also say Trump wanted Ukraine to halt those attacks unilaterally.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has continued since 24 February 2022, while the war began in 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea and started hostilities in Donbas.