Media: Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian refineries — plant in Samara Oblast attacked

Ukraine has resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries: the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in Samara Oblast was attacked in the morning.

This was reported by Ukrainian and Russian opposition Telegram channels.

Residents of Novokuibyshevsk wrote on social media about explosions and air defense forces operating. The region declared a drone strike threat already during the attack. According to media reports, the Novokuibyshevsk refinery produces jet fuel for the needs of the Russian Aerospace Forces.

The resumption of attacks came amid a publication by The Wall Street Journal, which the day before, citing sources, reported that Ukraine, under pressure from US President Donald Trump, had intended to stop strikes on Russian refineries until the US midterm congressional elections or even until mid-November.

According to the newspaper, back in mid-October, Ukrainian units engaged in long-range strikes received instructions to cease attacks on refineries after completing already planned operations. The strikes stopped at the beginning of last week. As a WSJ source said, Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara told Volodymyr Zelensky that the military considered it expedient to temporarily refrain from strikes due to the complicated diplomatic situation. The president agreed but emphasized that the military could resume attacks at their discretion.

Zelensky himself told journalists on Tuesday that there had been no ban on strikes on Russian refineries.

“Our guys tried to be a bit more cautious these days. But they have no order not to hit oil refineries,” the president said.

According to two US officials, on October 20 at a meeting in Oslo, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner again demanded that Zelensky stop strikes on refineries. One of the interlocutors described the conversation as “very tough.” Kushner said that he and Steven Witkoff were spending a lot of time, effort and resources on mediating negotiations with Moscow, so a 30-day pause in strikes would be a way for Ukraine to express gratitude to the US.

European allies also advised Zelensky to suspend the attacks until the American elections, fearing further deterioration of Kyiv’s relations with Washington.

As WSJ writes, Zelensky tried to get something from Trump in exchange for stopping the strikes. He proposed a mutual energy truce with Russia, supplies of additional missiles for Patriot air defense systems, or permission to use Starlink communications on the territory of the Russian Federation to destroy Russian missile launchers. However, none of these proposals was implemented.

Sources of the publication also said that on October 21, Trump personally called Elon Musk with a request to restore full Starlink communications for the Ukrainian army. The restrictions were lifted on October 24. US officials deny any connection between the restoration of Starlink communications and the cessation of strikes on refineries. However, some Ukrainian officials believe that these matters were interconnected, since Kyiv urgently needed the White House’s help to restore satellite communications.

Kyiv did not strike Russian oil refining for two weeks.