President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine will resume aerial strikes on Russian oil refineries after a three‑day pause at Washington's request. He accused the United States of withdrawing critical intelligence sharing and of deliberately limiting Starlink satellite bandwidth to pressure Kyiv into stopping the attacks.
Zelensky said that many Ukrainian cities had been hit in the past 24 hours and that Moscow had already struck an oil refinery south of Moscow, causing a fire in Ryazan after four missiles and dozens of drones were intercepted.
The Ukrainian leader tied the decision to restore the strikes to the need for additional NATO air‑defence aid, stating that Kyiv would halt the attacks only if the United States supplied more Patriot missiles.
He also criticised the United States‑Russia agreement that released 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the global market, which Ukraine said effectively funds the Russian war machine. Zelensky has called the deal a “trump‑deal” and a means of softening fuel prices ahead of U.S. mid‑term elections.
The conflict has strained international diplomatic relations, with Britain set to accelerate the delivery of lightweight multirole missiles to Kyiv and European leaders preparing a summit in Brussels to discuss the conflict’s escalation.
