In an interview published on Thursday, October 15, Donald Trump described Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries as "shameful" and attributed part of the resulting upward pressure on global energy prices to Kyiv's actions — a position he took at a point when Russian forces were simultaneously carrying out their own attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Trump separately directed criticism at President Volodymyr Zelensky, characterising him — rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin — as the bigger impediment to bringing the conflict to a close, and adding that he believed a resolution ought to arrive soon. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he viewed both leaders as wanting the war to end, yet characterised Zelensky as more difficult to deal with than Putin.
Those remarks came after Zelensky announced Ukraine would no longer hold back from striking Russian oil refineries, a step Zelensky linked to Moscow's continued attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure even as a ceasefire proposal put forward by Trump remained on the table. In a separate interview broadcast on October 11, Zelensky conveyed Ukraine's stance on a mutual energy ceasefire, stating that strikes on the opposing side's diesel infrastructure would be halted under such an arrangement.
Zelensky has maintained that any halt to strikes on Russian fuel infrastructure must be paired with a corresponding end to attacks on Ukraine's power grid, pushing back against what he described as a one-sided constraint on his country's capacity to defend itself, and urging the other side to stop targeting civilians, including children. In an interview made available on Thursday, Zelensky told the broadcaster that the matter was finished.
Strikes on Ukrainian urban areas and power infrastructure by Russian forces persisted throughout the period when Kyiv had paused its own refinery operations at Washington's behest, a pattern that left hundreds of thousands of residents without power. Unmanned aircraft struck an oil-processing installation in the Ryazan region — approximately 300 kilometres outside Moscow — touching off a fire at the site on Thursday.
A deal reached between Trump and Putin to ease restrictions on Russian diesel exports has introduced friction into the relationship between Kyiv and Washington, with Zelensky contending that the arrangement gives Moscow an economic cushion at a time when its armed forces remain engaged against Ukraine. Energy analysts note that any resumption of Russian diesel exports under the Trump agreement would offer limited relief at the pump, given that elevated global oil prices trace back primarily to hostilities between the United States and Israel on one side and Iran on the other — a conflict that has choked the flow of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
On Thursday, Zelensky arrived in Brussels for talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and a round of meetings with European leaders, laying the groundwork ahead of Friday's EU summit, where sustaining military and political support for Ukraine was set to feature prominently on the agenda.
