kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery Thursday, abandoning a brief truce involving energy-related goals that it said Moscow had ignored, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The drone attack sparked a fire at a refinery about 300 km southeast of Moscow in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov. Russian online news site Astra published what it said was a photograph of the fire.
This strike could further complicate kyiv’s relations with Trump, which have further deteriorated in recent days amid growing tensions between Ukraine and Washington.
Zelensky said he was outraged by Russia’s continued aerial bombardments of energy infrastructure, in apparent defiance of Trump’s demand on Sunday for both sides to end such attacks.
Despite agreeing to Trump’s truce request, Zelensky complained, Ukraine in recent days has been denied the usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and limits have been placed on its use of American-made Starlink communications terminals. Both are vital to the Ukrainian army.
He said his patience was running out, telling the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries would resume.
“We are done,” Zelenskyy reportedly said.
A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed that Ukraine had struck the refinery.
Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
Zelensky denounces US agreement to purchase Russian diesel
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Ukraine had never stopped its strikes on refineries. It was not possible to independently verify each party’s claims.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Ukraine’s strikes on oil facilities a “direct and crude challenge to President Trump.”
Another point of tension with Ukraine is Trump’s deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import Russian diesel, despite international efforts to sanction Russia for its invasion and diplomatically isolate Putin.
Zelensky criticized the deal, saying it would allow Russia to continue its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began more than four and a half years ago. U.S. efforts under Trump to end the war have made no progress.
In an interview Wednesday evening with Piers Morgan on the British journalist’s YouTube show, Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by Trump’s deal with Putin, the energy ceasefire announcement and Starlink limits that restricted the use of Ukrainian drones.
When asked if he felt betrayed by the US president, he replied: “Really, yes, between us.”
“Our country must survive and we rely on our true partners, our strategic partners, the United States and President Trump,” Zelensky told Morgan.
He said U.S. behavior, including restricting the Starlink system, “was really strange.”
Henry Nicholls/Pool photo via AP
Zelensky says US position is not ‘on the right side of history’
In the same interview, Zelensky said Ukraine was “losing a strong partner” in the United States.
“It’s painful when President Trump chooses a side, not ours. But we’re OK with him being in the middle,” he said.
Zelenskyy said someone is pushing Trump into a position that is “not on the right side of history.”
On Thursday, Trump openly declared his dislike for Zelensky in an interview with Newsmax, blaming him for resuming strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and not wanting to settle with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with,” Trump said. “I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. They destroyed this country.”
The US president added: “I think Zelensky is more difficult to deal with than Putin. »
Trump suggested that Ukraine hold an election to replace Zelensky, suggesting that Russia had a military advantage because of its size.
The president, who was not asked about the Starlink issue or intelligence sharing during the interview, added that Ukraine has the best military equipment because it comes from the United States.
Elon Musk noted on X that the military version of Starlink, called Starshield, is controlled by the US military and Trump.
A Ukrainian official said the country had received no explanation from SpaceX, the company that maintains the Starlink satellites, or the Pentagon, for the slowdown. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation.
The Pentagon also did not respond to questions from The Associated Press about the slowdown.
The absence of Western intelligence makes Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian ballistic missiles. Trump said the United States has continued to share intelligence with Ukraine.
Nicolas Tucat, Photo Piscine via AP
Ukraine turns to Europe for more help
Amid concerns that the Trump administration may withdraw support for Ukraine, Zelensky traveled to Brussels on Thursday for talks with European Union leaders attending a two-day summit.
Zelensky said he would meet NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and the prime ministers of Poland, Denmark and Belgium.
The day before, he had traveled to London, where he obtained promises of additional aid from British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Asked whether the EU still trusts Trump, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “We definitely have a different approach to this war. We see that we need to put pressure on the aggressor to stop the war, not on the victim to surrender.”
“Pressing Ukraine is not the right approach, and that is why Europe stands with Ukraine,” Kallas told reporters.
Russian strike in Ukraine kills 3 civilians
Separately, three people were killed and six others injured after the Kirovohrad region in central Ukraine was the target of a Russian drone attack that lasted more than 10 hours, Ukrainian emergency services said on Thursday.
Between midnight and Thursday morning, Russia launched more than 850 drones into Ukraine, Zelenskyy said on X. He added that the barrage came “precisely at a time when the speed of our defensive capabilities is artificially limited,” an apparent reference to Starlink restrictions on drones.
Russian air attacks hit 15 Ukrainian regions, he said.
“It is obvious that Russia deliberately chose to intensify its attacks after obtaining sanctions relief and seeing attempts to pressure Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “It is important that everyone in America stands not with the aggressor, but with our efforts to protect lives, end this war and ensure security.”
Ukrainian air defenses stopped 536 Russian drones in a large-scale night attack, the Ukrainian Air Force said, but hits were recorded at 31 locations.
A Ukrainian missile destroyed six fighter jets at an airfield in southwest Russia, Zelensky said. The planes were used to launch powerful glide bombs, he explained.
“Russia is prolonging the war, so our long-term operations will continue,” he said on social media.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 166 Ukrainian drones overnight and that Russian forces hit two ships carrying military cargo.
Associated Press writers Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine; Lorne Cook in Brussels; and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed.
Follow AP coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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