Zelensky says Kyiv will resume strikes on Russian refineries despite Trump-backed energy truce

Kyiv says refinery strikes will resume

Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the Financial Times, published on Thursday, 15 October, that Ukraine will resume strikes on Russian refineries. He said Kyiv had committed only to a three-day pause starting on Sunday, 11 October, after Donald Trump publicly backed a truce on attacks against energy infrastructure. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has confirmed that truce. Zelensky also said Moscow had carried out at least a hundred attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure in the preceding days.

Washington pressure and intelligence cutoffs

According to the Financial Times account, Zelensky did not hide his irritation with the United States over the distance Trump has taken from Kyiv. He said US military officials had told their Ukrainian counterparts openly that strikes on Russian facilities had to be suspended, and that Washington had warned it would block access to intelligence information. Zelensky said the blocked access had deprived the Ukrainian army of early-warning systems against ballistic missile attacks. Washington had repeatedly warned that it could cut the intelligence it provides if Ukraine did not stop hitting Russian refineries, a demand it justified by the need for stability in the international fuel market. Trump denied that the United States had halted information sharing and said Ukraine had also attacked on the day before. Zelensky added that the Starlink service, owned by Elon Musk, had slowed in Ukraine, hitting front-line operations and medium-range strikes, and that this was a deliberate company decision rather than a technical fault.

Kyiv hit by ballistic missiles

On Wednesday, 14 October, at least three people were killed in Kyiv after new Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and residential buildings, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, who reported more than two dozen injured. The Ukrainian Air Force said several Russian ballistic missiles were launched at the capital in the early hours, and Klitschko said the city was facing power cuts. Zelensky said a ballistic missile hit a power plant in Kyiv shortly before midnight and acknowledged that one of the most important plants in the city had been struck. He said that for the second time in roughly 24 hours, Ukraine's partners had not issued the usual warning about the launch of the missiles, which made it harder for the army to respond. He did not specify which ally had stopped passing that information. Explosions were also reported in Kharkiv and Dnipro.

Overnight drone and bomb attacks in the east and centre

Local authorities said at least five people were killed and nine injured in Russian drone and aerial bomb attacks on the Kirovohrad and Dnipropetrovsk provinces. Dnipropetrovsk governor Oleksandr Ganzh reported two deaths after a single-family house was destroyed in the Novoleksandrivska community of Dnipro district. Russian forces attacked five districts of Dnipropetrovsk more than 10 times in the early morning, causing fires in residential areas of Pavlohrad, and Ganzh said air defences downed 39 drones overnight. In Kirovohrad, governor Andriy Raikovych confirmed three deaths in the regional capital, with six people injured and five of them hospitalised, after an attack aimed at logistics and transport facilities and industrial firms. The city, home to about 220,000 people, was placed under a red alert by the Air Force over high-speed drones with jet engines.

Shipping and the Izmail port

The Russian Ministry of Defence claimed responsibility for strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure and vessels. It said the Izmail port in the Odesa region, used to unload military and dual-use cargo for the Ukrainian armed forces, had been damaged, and that two other cargo ships carrying military equipment to the port of Odesa were hit during the voyage. The ministry, which posted its statement on Telegram, also said its air defences had downed 166 drones launched by Ukraine in recent hours. Ukrainian officials had not responded to these claims in the reporting available.

A recurring pattern in Dnipropetrovsk

The Dnipropetrovsk region has been a repeated target in recent days. On 10 October an 11-year-old child was killed and five other people were injured there. On 14 October a new attack killed two people and injured five, including a child. The latest overnight strikes add to that toll as Zelensky's remarks about refinery strikes and the energy truce drew attention to the gap between Kyiv and Washington.