Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Is Done Holding Back on Russian Oil Refineries

Ukraine has lifted restrictions on strikes against Russian oil refineries and other energy infrastructure after observing a three-day pause requested by Washington, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times on October 15.

“The ban has been lifted. We’ve had enough,” Zelenskyy said.

According to the Ukrainian President, Kyiv refrained from attacking Russian energy facilities for three days in an effort to comply with Washington’s request.

Russia, however, continued striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure during that period and killed more than 100 civilians over the past week, Zelenskyy said.

The pause also coincided with problems affecting capabilities Ukraine relies on during Russian mass strikes. Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces stopped receiving US early warnings about Russian ballistic missile launches, while Starlink performance deteriorated across the country, complicating frontline operations and middle-strike missions against Russian military targets.

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War in Ukraine

Russia Ignored Trump’s “Energy Ceasefire” and Kept Firing Ballistic Missiles at Ukraine

Oct 14, 2026 09:56

According to Zelenskyy, US counterparts had directly warned Ukrainian military officials that intelligence sharing could be blocked unless Kyiv stopped striking Russian energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials were later told that the disruption was the result of technical problems.

“This was not a technical problem, it was a matter of will,” Zelenskyy said, referring to the Starlink disruption.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine could potentially agree to refrain from attacking Russian energy infrastructure even if Moscow continued its own strikes, but only in exchange for significantly stronger air defenses. Additional Patriot interceptor missiles would be the minimum Ukraine would require for such an arrangement, he said.

The Ukrainian President linked the reported reduction in Starlink functionality to Kyiv’s requests for stronger protection from Russian missile attacks, arguing that instead of receiving additional air-defense capability, Ukraine saw one of the communications systems essential to its military operations weakened.

Previously, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that Moscow has not received specific details regarding the energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia announced by US President Donald Trump, arguing that Russia cannot be accused of violating an agreement.

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