Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on Thursday that a brief ceasefire arrangement covering energy infrastructure had not been honoured by Russia, and separately expressed that he felt let down by US President Donald Trump — comments that preceded Ukrainian forces carrying out a strike on a Russian oil refinery.

Fire broke out at the refinery — located in the Ryazan region, around 300 kilometres (180 miles) to the southeast of Moscow — after a drone struck the installation, according to statements from both the Russian Defence Ministry and Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov. One broadcaster shared an image it described as showing the fire.

The attack added a new layer of friction to an already strained relationship between Kyiv and Trump, as discord between Ukraine and Washington has grown more pronounced over recent days. Zelensky voiced strong objection to the continued targeting of energy infrastructure by Russian aerial attacks, describing the strikes as a disregard for the call Trump made on Sunday for a halt to such operations by both parties.

Zelensky noted that, even as Ukraine fell in line with the ceasefire request, the flow of Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile attacks had been cut off in recent days and restrictions had been placed on how Starlink terminals supplied by the United States could be operated. The Ukrainian armed forces depend on both to sustain their operations.

Speaking in a broadcast interview that aired Thursday, Zelensky indicated that attacks on Russian oil refineries would resume, and that his willingness to hold back on the matter had run its course. An unnamed Ukrainian official, barred from making public statements and therefore speaking without attribution, told reporters that Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery.

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that attacks by Ukraine on oil refineries had continued without interruption. Independent confirmation of the accounts put forward by either party was not possible.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Ukraine's strikes on oil facilities as an affront directed at Trump, while a separate agreement — through which Trump committed to buying Russian diesel — has attracted scrutiny given the broader international effort to apply economic pressure on Moscow and curtail Putin's diplomatic reach in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Zelensky argued that the deal would leave Russia free to continue its large-scale military offensive against Ukraine, which has been under way for more than four and a half years.

Diplomatic initiatives pursued during the Trump administration have yet to bring the conflict to a close. In a late Wednesday appearance on Piers Morgan's YouTube channel, Zelensky conveyed that the agreement Trump reached with Putin — covering a ceasefire on energy infrastructure and bringing restrictions on Starlink that curtailed Ukrainian drone operations — had left him feeling that Ukraine's position had not been adequately considered.

When asked whether he felt let down by the president, Zelensky responded in the affirmative, adding in a candid aside that the exchange was between the two of them, before telling a news outlet that his country's continued existence depended on its relationship with the United States and Trump as genuine strategic partners. In the same interview, Zelensky characterised certain actions by the United States — among them restrictions placed on the Starlink system — as something he could not readily explain, and went on to say that Ukraine stood to lose a meaningful partner, expressing sorrow at seeing President Trump take a position aligned with the opposing side rather than with Ukraine.

"That positioning is fine with us," he said. Zelensky contended that outside influence was pushing Trump toward what he characterised as the wrong side of history.

Trump, during a televised appearance on Thursday, voiced displeasure with Zelensky over his decision to resume strikes against Russian energy infrastructure and his unwillingness to negotiate a settlement with Vladimir Putin, adding that he found Zelensky difficult to work alongside and held no particular regard for him. In those same remarks, Trump portrayed Zelensky as a more difficult counterpart at the table than Putin, pushed for Ukraine to stage an election that would install new leadership, and contended that Russia held a positional advantage on the battlefield by virtue of its greater territorial mass.

The president, whose interview did not cover Starlink or intelligence-sharing arrangements, remarked that Ukraine's weaponry ranked among the finest available owing to its American origin — a claim Elon Musk separately addressed on X, where he posted that Starshield, the defence-oriented variant of Starlink, operates under the authority of the US military and the president.

No account of the deceleration has been provided to Ukraine by either SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite network, or the Pentagon, according to a statement from a Ukrainian official who was granted anonymity over the matter's sensitive nature. Requests for comment on the slowdown directed at the Pentagon by a prominent broadcast outlet went without a response.

Reduced access to Western intelligence data has left Ukrainian forces with a narrower capacity to detect and intercept incoming Russian ballistic missile attacks. Trump stated in his remarks that intelligence-sharing with Ukraine had not been halted by the United States.

Zelensky travelled to Brussels on Thursday to hold talks with EU leaders gathered for a two-day summit, as questions circulated over whether the Trump administration would continue backing Ukraine. Scheduled talks with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and the prime ministers of Poland, Denmark, and Belgium were confirmed by Zelensky. A day earlier, he had travelled to London, where UK leaders gave assurances of additional support.

When a reporter posed the question of whether the bloc still places trust in Trump, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas noted that the two sides hold meaningfully distinct positions on the conflict. Kallas told reporters that pressure should be directed at the party waging the conflict rather than at the one bearing its consequences, and that pushing Ukraine toward concessions runs counter to the position Europe has chosen to take.

Three fatalities and six injuries were recorded in the Kirovohrad region of central Ukraine on Thursday after drone activity attributed to Russia persisted across the area for more than ten hours, according to the country's Emergency Services. Zelensky posted on X that more than 850 drones had been directed at Ukraine in the hours leading up to Thursday, and he noted in the same post that the wave of attacks had arrived at a point when the pace of Ukraine's defensive capabilities was, in his words, being held back artificially — a remark widely read as a reference to restrictions placed on Starlink's use with drones.

Zelensky stated that drone intercepts by air defence units numbered 536 across an overnight operation spanning 15 regions, though damage was confirmed at 31 separate sites. He called on Americans to align with efforts aimed at protecting lives, ending the conflict, and securing a lasting peace rather than with the side he held responsible for the attacks, which he said had intensified following sanctions relief and what he described as external pressure placed on Ukraine.

Zelensky stated that a strike involving a single Ukrainian missile left six aircraft destroyed at an airfield located in Russia's southwest. The aircraft had delivered glide bombs against targets, he noted, adding via social media that strikes at long range would persist because, in his view, the opposing side was prolonging the conflict.

Russia's defence ministry reported that air-defence systems intercepted 166 Ukrainian drones through the night, while ground forces struck two ships transporting military supplies, according to a statement from the ministry.