A drone strike on a Russian oil refinery followed Zelenskyy's announcement that Kyiv would no longer observe an arrangement, brokered by the United States, under which both sides had agreed to hold back from targeting energy infrastructure — a commitment he stated had gone unmet by Moscow.
On Sunday, Trump announced a halt to strikes on energy infrastructure, with the arrangement said to involve both Russia and Ukraine — news that prompted Kyiv to stand down its drone and missile operations directed at oil refineries inside Russian territory. Trump attributed the rise in diesel prices on global markets to attacks carried out against energy infrastructure.
In the period that followed, Russia directed missile and drone attacks at infrastructure including power stations, cutting off electricity supplies to hundreds of thousands of people. In remarks to a news outlet on Thursday, Zelenskyy conveyed that Ukraine's patience had run its course.
Zelenskyy pressed the point further, telling reporters that the mid-week change to how military-grade Starlink terminals operated — a shift that left Ukrainian forces with reduced drone capability through the network — was the product of a deliberate decision, not a hardware or software failure, a conclusion he put in direct terms: "It was not a technical problem, it was the will."
Posting on social media, Musk stated that decisions over the military-grade Starlink service — marketed under the Starshield name — rested with Trump, adding that those systems remain under US government ownership and operational authority. In a written post, Musk noted that authority over speed restrictions and usage parameters rests with the US military and, at the top of that chain, the president.
Zelenskyy's decision not to meet Trump's demand left the relationship between Kyiv and Washington more strained than at any point since Russian forces entered Ukraine in February 2022. His public remarks, though framed around obligations for both Moscow and Kyiv, kept returning to Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries. During the weekend, Trump put forward a public call for the strikes to end.
Relations between Trump and Zelenskyy were at times adversarial, reaching a low point during a February 2025 meeting at the White House where Trump publicly confronted him. Diplomatic friction from the prior week intensified as Trump took steps to remove sanctions on Russian diesel while also putting forward a proposal that Ukraine replace Zelenskyy with a different leader.
Over the course of several days, Kyiv's authorities reported that pre-strike notifications from allied nations — relayed through US satellite-based monitoring systems — had stopped reaching them before Russian attacks landed. In a public statement, Trump put forward the position that no intelligence had been held back. Zelenskyy indicated that Kyiv was told the lapse in advance notice had been the result of a technical fault.
Over recent months, drone strikes on Russian fuel infrastructure and supply networks have formed a central part of Ukraine's military approach, with officials there characterising the tactic as a response to aerial bombardment that has continued for close to five years. Fuel supplies across Russia came under strain as a direct result of the strikes. Facing domestic calls to bring down fuel costs, Trump attributed the rise in global energy prices to the Ukrainian strikes.
A Rosneft-operated refinery in the Ryazan region, positioned southeast of Moscow and handling close to five per cent of the country's total refining capacity, was among the facilities struck in the attack, with the plant also playing a role in supplying fuel to the capital. Writing via a Telegram post, regional governor Pavel Malkov attributed a blaze at the refinery to a drone strike. Responders had deployed to the location while an evaluation of the extent of the harm got underway.
Overnight strikes on a Russian refinery were reported by a Ukrainian official, who described the operation as a response to ballistic missile and drone attacks attributed to Russian forces that the official said breached an existing ceasefire arrangement covering energy infrastructure.
More than 500 drone aircraft hit targets across Ukrainian territory during the overnight hours, with the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine recording three fatalities and six people treated for injuries. Naftogaz, the state-owned energy company, reported that a gas extraction facility in Poltava had sustained damage, prompting a halt to operations at the site.
Moscow's position, conveyed in a Thursday statement, held that Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities work against ongoing American-led attempts to broker peace. Days earlier that week, a statement had put forward the view that the boundaries of the energy ceasefire arrangement had yet to be formally established, with efforts to define them still under way.
