Speaking to a London-based broadcaster, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlined plans to resume strikes on oil-refining facilities inside Russian territory, and separately flagged what he described as a drawdown in intelligence-sharing arrangements and access to the Starlink satellite network. Zelenskyy told the outlet that the matter was finished.
The comments brought the discord between Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump into public view, placing additional pressure on a working relationship that had already shown signs of strain between the two.
The agreement to buy Russian diesel, which Trump unveiled the previous week, came alongside pressure directed at Ukraine to stop targeting oil refineries on Russian soil — moves tied to his publicly stated aim of bringing down fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections. Objections arose on both sides of the political aisle, and governments across Europe voiced unease about the decision.
On Wednesday, Starlink was reported to have placed limits on certain internet services tied to battlefield operations, a move that prompted concern among Ukrainian officials and their European counterparts. Zelenskyy took issue with what he described as a readiness on Trump's part to pursue commercial arrangements with Moscow, along with what he viewed as Trump's favourable disposition toward Russia's Vladimir Putin.
An unnamed official added that Ukrainian military commanders were informed by their American counterparts that intelligence sharing would be suspended if they pressed ahead with their operations.
The announcement that Zelenskyy would resume strikes on Russian oil infrastructure came shortly after a separate interview in which he expressed reservations about a reported energy arrangement between Trump and Moscow. Speaking on Piers Morgan's YouTube show "Piers Morgan Uncensored" on Wednesday, Zelenskyy expressed the view that the Trump administration had failed to support Ukraine adequately, and described the arrangement as a straightforward benefit for Russia — a position he put forward just days after Trump posted on social media that Putin had agreed to redirect his country's diesel supplies toward global markets, a move Trump framed as part of his efforts to bring down energy prices ahead of the midterm elections.
Airstrikes linked to Russian forces landed on Ukrainian soil Monday, while Trump separately declared that an "energy ceasefire" had come into effect — a characterisation that no official documentation from either party had yet confirmed.
In a video clip posted to X from the interview with Morgan, Zelenskyy described Ukraine as his country, his people's home, and the place where their children live, then said he found it painful when Trump aligned with one side, adding that anyone claiming a middle position ought to hold to it. Zelenskyy argued that the stance taken placed its holder on the wrong side of history, and separately contended that Russia stands to benefit from any perception of Trump as ineffectual — adding that those acting on Moscow's behalf treat American electoral procedures with little apparent concern.
Away from the diplomatic exchanges, both sides have been directing strikes at each other's power and energy infrastructure over the past several weeks, even as the front lines themselves have moved only fractionally.
Notices went out to Ukraine and European partners that intelligence-sharing arrangements and allied purchases of American-supplied arms for Kyiv faced potential suspension unless strikes against Russian energy infrastructure were brought to a halt. Proponents argue that exchanging intelligence on missile-launcher positions and intended target coordinates can strengthen Ukrainian air-defence planning against incoming Russian ballistic missiles.
Over the period that followed, the president and other members of his administration maintained that intelligence-sharing arrangements had not been disrupted. Responding to a request from Kyiv for clarity on the absence of missile alerts, American officials pointed to weather conditions as the reason for the gap. Ukrainian officials viewed the incident as intentional, while a European official told a broadcaster that the explanation offered by the United States did not hold up, and a Ukrainian official warned through the same outlet that the development would hand Russian forces meaningful leverage along the front at a point when their advances had been brought to a halt and territorial recovery efforts were under way.
Local officials have attributed part of that knowledge gap to restrictions placed on certain internet services in Ukraine by Starlink, the satellite network operated by Elon Musk. Officials in Kyiv reported that the rollout of access limitations on Starshield — SpaceX's military-grade Starlink variant — came without advance notice to them.
In an interview, Zelenskyy stated that overnight strikes had been launched to take advantage of the Starshield outage, and that Ukrainian forces depend on the satellite network to detect and intercept the Shahed drones deployed by Russian forces — a dependency that, in his assessment, means the decision to suspend access carries lethal consequences, a point he said he had conveyed personally to Musk. Zelenskyy expressed a wish that the situation amounted to nothing more than a substantial technical fault.
Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday morning that Russia had sent more than 850 attack drones since midnight, adding that the pace of his country's air defences had been held back by outside constraints. Musk, for his part, stated the day before that Starshield systems fall under the ownership and direction of the US government, with any restrictions on speed or use resting with the military and the president. Starlink, a commercial service under SpaceX ownership and operational control, was described as being restricted to civilian or defensive purposes.
Musk stated that Starlink was not available for offensive military operations, describing such use as unsuitable for a private commercial operator. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy devoted much of the preceding week to building diplomatic backing among European heads of government. That Wednesday, he held two separate sessions in London — one with Prime Minister Andy Burnham and another with King Charles — while, according to Zelenskyy, Russian forces were launching drones and ballistic missiles that cut electricity to more than 600,000 people across Ukraine.
