Ukraine resumes refinery strikes after Russia ignores energy ceasefire
President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his recent Ukraine policy decisions in a TruthSocial post, including waiving congressionally mandated sanctions on Russia, a deal to buy Russian diesel, and his demand for new leadership in Kyiv. In the post, Trump blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for harming U.S. “farmers, ranchers, and businesses of all kinds” whom he said were “suffering greatly,” criticized Zelensky, and praised Russia for selling millions of barrels of low-priced diesel into the global market.
“Russia is doing very little, if anything, to help the Islamic Republic of Iran, compared to what they could be doing, and I want to keep it that way, and will, unless stupid people get in the way,” Trump wrote. He said Zelensky was using the refineries “as a target, knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.”
He said Zelensky didn’t care about any of it and, due to the financial assistance Zelensky was receiving from Europe and previously from the administration of former President Joe Biden, had no interest in ending the war.
“He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead,” said Trump.
On Friday, Trump sent an executive order to Congress waiving measures against Russia contained in the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act” — named for the late senator and designed to pressure Moscow to negotiate an end to the war — that Trump had signed into law on Sept. 18.
The waiver came a week after Trump announced a deal to buy 1.8 million tons of Russian diesel over the next couple of months, after the Treasury Department issued a license allowing Russian diesel on the international market through April 7, despite the sanctions prohibiting it from doing so.
An energy cease-fire Trump announced on Oct. 11 was ignored by Russia, which has continued to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of winter, prompting Zelensky on Thursday to announce that Ukraine was resuming strikes on Russian refineries.
“The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” Zelensky told the Financial Times.
The same day, state-run Russian media reported that Ukrainian drones struck a major refinery in the Ryazan region, setting it ablaze. The Kremlin said Thursday that Moscow did not consider Ukraine had complied with the cease-fire, “full stop,” and that the strike on the Rosneft-owned refinery was proof.