Ukraine halted strikes on oil refineries in Russia for 72 hours at the request of the United States, but it did not help. During those three days, the Defence Forces focused on other targets, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told journalists at a meeting yesterday.
He confirmed that Ukraine had repeatedly received signals urging it to stop attacking Russia’s oil refining sector. Ukraine, in turn, asked for work to be done on de-escalating strikes on energy infrastructure.
“Then the US President came out with this public position on Truth Social about an energy ceasefire. We supported it, and after that, for three days we did not respond with strikes on Russian refineries while Russia was striking our energy sector. I said: ‘Let’s, for at least 72 hours, respond calmly against other targets. We won’t touch the refineries.’ It didn’t help. There was different rhetoric. And no one thanked us for those three days,” he said.
Zelenskyy said that during those three days, defenders asked to be more cautious with strikes.
“But they do not have orders not to respond. There was the story with the Ryazan refinery. There were corresponding operations. We were dealing with data centres, places where ‘Russian’ ballistic missiles are concentrated — responding to their painful strikes, and our responses, we expect, will also be felt by the ‘Russians’. As for the ships that sailed from Russia to America: no one touches those ships for sure, because they are ships that have a connection to the United States,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy explained.
Context
The US President believes that Ukraine is responsible for the rise in diesel prices on the global market, although sector experts have repeatedly pointed out that the price increase began after Iran attacked refineries in the Persian Gulf countries.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to the energy ceasefire announced by Trump. But Russia launched a combined, massive strike on Ukraine’s energy sector immediately after it was announced. After that, Zelenskyy said that the ceasefire for Russian refineries was over.