"The block is out. We're done." With those words to the Financial Times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky walked away from President Donald Trump's demand that Ukraine stop striking Russian oil refineries — and Ukrainian drones hit the Ryazan refinery southeast of Moscow within hours, in the sharpest rupture between Kyiv and Washington since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Why Ukraine walked away from the truce
Trump abruptly announced an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine on Sunday, declaring that both sides had agreed to halt attacks on energy sites — though neither Moscow nor Kyiv had confirmed such a deal. Ukraine suspended its refinery strikes for about three days to test the arrangement. But in the days that followed, Russia kept raining missiles and drones on Ukrainian energy targets, including power stations, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. Zelensky said Ukraine was denied its usual Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and faced limits on its use of US-made Starlink terminals.
"The block on attacking refineries is out," Zelensky told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday. "We're done." He also said he felt betrayed by Trump, criticizing the US leader's willingness to strike deals with Russia and what he described as an affinity for those wielding power.
The Ryazan strike and the fallout
Ukraine's latest target was a refinery in the Ryazan region, about 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow, owned by state oil major Rosneft and accounting for nearly 5 percent of Russia's refinery throughput. Regional governor Pavel Malkov said on Telegram that a major Ukrainian drone attack had caused a fire at the facility. Russian President Vladimir Putin played down the effect of the long-range strikes, saying they had caused "nothing particularly significant."
The reaction from Washington and Moscow was swift. Trump lashed out at Zelensky in a Thursday interview with Newsmax host Rob Finnerty: "If you tell me that Zelensky is again shooting at refineries, all he's doing is making the world oil price higher. I think that's a disgrace." He added that Zelensky was "not a good guy for us to deal with" and "more difficult to deal with than Putin." Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the renewed strikes "a direct and crude challenge to President Trump," while the Kremlin accused Kyiv of undermining US peace efforts.
Europe rallies behind Kyiv
EU leaders gathering in Brussels for a summit on Thursday defended Ukraine's approach. Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas noted that the majority of Russia's war funding comes from oil revenues. Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal put it more bluntly: the faster Russian refineries are "blown to smithereens," the better. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said the Netherlands stands "shoulder to shoulder" with Ukraine.
The stakes extend beyond Ukraine. Trump blames Ukrainian strikes for raising diesel prices on global markets, with US midterm elections approaching. But the deeper question is whether the Kyiv-Washington relationship — already strained since a February 2025 Oval Office meeting descended into a shouting match — can survive a public rupture in which each side now accuses the other of bad faith.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources
- Daily Maverick — Ukraine hits Russian refinery as Zelensky says 'we're done' with Trump's energy truce
- SCMP — 'We're done': Ukraine resumes Russian refinery strikes, defying Trump
- NY Post — Trump attacks Ukraine's Zelensky after he says 'we're done' with energy cease-fire: 'That's a disgrace'
- NDTV — Ukraine energy truce: 'We're done,' Zelensky feels betrayed by Trump, attacks Russian refinery