Ukraine has stopped strikes on Russian refineries: Zelensky named the condition for resuming them

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have unofficially stopped attacks on Russian oil refineries after several weeks of pressure from President Trump.

This was reported on Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the operations.

According to the newspaper, the pause began early last week and is expected to last until the end of the US midterm elections, and possibly longer — into November. Reuters said it could not immediately confirm this information.

According to the publication, the pressure undermined Kyiv’s confidence in US support. A few days before the pause began, Trump called for President Volodymyr Zelensky to be removed, and SpaceX restricted Ukraine’s access to Starlink.

Trump announced an “energy truce” between Russia and Ukraine on October 11, without first consulting either side. At a closed briefing on October 27, Zelensky said that Ukraine had refrained from strikes on refineries for 72 hours while Russia continued to hit Ukraine’s energy system.

“We are not touching the oil refineries,” he said to the commanders, as he himself recalled, and added that “no one thanked us for these three days.”

On October 15, Zelensky told the Financial Times: “The ban (on strikes on refineries) has been lifted. We’ve had enough.” After that, drones set fire to the Ryazan refinery, which is managed by Rosneft. Trump called the resumption of strikes “a disgrace.” Since then, the attacks have largely stopped. Zelensky says his troops were never ordered to stop the strikes, but their intensity dropped sharply, and the last attacks were reported on October 15 and 18.

Moscow took advantage of the lull. As three industry sources told Reuters, in the second half of October Russian refineries processed about 25% more oil than at the beginning of the month — about 5 million barrels per day. Diesel fuel production rose to about 225,000 tons per day. The Kremlin-linked newspaper Izvestia reported that free sales of fuel resumed in 15 Russian regions, including Crimea.

Domestically, the pause is not supported. A KIIS poll published on October 28 showed that 80% of Ukrainians favor continuing strikes on refineries, even if Washington stops aid, intelligence sharing, or access to Starlink.

Zelensky said he would agree to a longer halt only if the US supplies more interceptor missiles for Patriot — this, he said, is the “minimum.” He said Washington wants the strikes to stop but promises nothing in return. Therefore, whether Ukraine will resume its campaign may depend on what it gets in return.