Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian refineries after 3-day pause at U.S. request
Key Facts
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country would resume strikes on Russian refineries, ending a 3-day pause in attacks on energy facilities in response to U.S. wishes, Reuters reported. He announced his position in an interview with the Financial Times in London, amid U.S. efforts to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. Zelenskiy summed up his decision with the words "We're done," announcing an end to Ukraine's pause in targeting. U.S. President Donald Trump had announced an energy truce between Russia and Ukraine. Neither side, however, had confirmed the truce, according to Reuters.
In Ryazan, regional Governor Pavel Malkov said a major Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at the refinery, according to Reuters. The facility is owned by Russian oil company Rosneft, one of the country's major industry players. The refinery accounts for nearly 5% of Russia's total oil refining volumes, the agency said. Malkov said material damage from the attack was being assessed. In subsequent coverage, Reuters cited industry sources as saying the refinery had shut down a primary crude distillation unit following the attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin played down the impact of Ukraine's long-range attacks on refineries, saying they had caused "nothing particularly significant," according to Reuters. The Kremlin said Ukraine's targeting of Russian energy infrastructure ran counter to U.S. peace efforts. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the strikes on oil facilities as "a direct and blatant challenge to President Trump," according to the Associated Press. On the Ukrainian side, Naftogaz said an overnight Russian attack hit a gas production facility east of Kyiv. The company said the attack halted operations at the facility, the Financial Times reported.
The resumption of strikes followed Trump's announcement of a deal to supply Russian diesel, under which he said Russia would immediately deliver more than 300,000 tonnes, according to the Associated Press. He added that this volume would be followed by additional shipments of 500,000 tonnes in November. In the Tuesday session preceding the resumption of attacks, U.S. diesel futures rose about 5% despite the announcement of the deal. Reuters described the increase as a sign of market scepticism about the diesel deal with Russia. Those moves came as global diesel exports fell by 700,000 barrels per day year on year in September, according to an International Energy Agency report.
In debt markets, Bloomberg reported that Ukraine's dollar-denominated government bonds underperformed all their emerging- and frontier-market peers during the reporting week. On U.S. security support, the agency cited a person familiar with the matter as saying Starshield operations had resumed after service was restricted. Ukraine's Defence Ministry was still discussing the reasons for the restriction with the United States, the same person said. In his Financial Times interview, Zelenskiy left open the possibility of agreeing to halt energy strikes in exchange for Ukraine receiving more U.S. Patriot interceptor missiles. He said he could agree to that even if Russian strikes continued.
On the European front, Zelenskiy was scheduled to address European Union leaders in Brussels on Thursday, according to the Financial Times. His demands included tougher sanctions on Russia and faster disbursement of European funding allocated to Ukraine. As Washington considered easing sanctions on shadow-fleet tankers, energy analytics firm Kpler warned that the move would have almost no effect on the current tanker crisis, according to Reuters. The International Energy Agency forecast in its October report that middle distillate supply constraints would persist into 2027. The agency is scheduled to release its next oil market report on November 13, 2026.