Ukraine defies West by striking Russian oil refinery
Ukraine has appeared to defy calls from allies to stop striking Russian energy facilities amid the global oil and gas squeeze triggered by war in Iran.
Russian officials claimed that Ukrainian drones struck an oil refinery operated by Lukoil and a Baltic pipeline near St Petersburg.
While Ukrainian officials haven’t confirmed the attacks, the purported strikes came after Kyiv acknowledged that its allies had cautioned against drone attacks on Russian infrastructure to avoid any further fuel price spikes.
On Sunday, the governor of Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, some 250 miles east of Moscow, said air defence units had repelled a 30-drone barrage.
“As a result of the falling debris, two facilities [of the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery] were damaged,” Gleb Nikitin added, according to a Russian channel on the messaging app Telegram.
Photographs and a video shared on social media appeared to show large flames coming from the refinery site and explosions lighting up the night skies over the city of Kstovo.
Photographs shared on social media appeared to show large flames coming from the oil refinery in Kstovo
Russian authorities claimed that air defences in the Leningrad region had downed 19 Ukrainian drones, but debris had damaged a section of an oil pipeline near the Baltic port of Primorsk, which sits between the Finnish border and the city of St Petersburg.
Ukraine does not always confirm its strikes on Russian energy assets as part of its campaign to squeeze Moscow’s domestic supplies and limit its exports.
The strikes always use domestically-made weapons, but it has been reported that allies, especially the United States, have provided intelligence to guide the attacks.
At times, foreign officials have cautioned against the campaign because it has an impact on global fuel prices.
The costs of oil and gas have shot up in the month since the US and Israel began attacking Iran.
In response, the Islamic Republic effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route that normally carries about a fifth of the global energy trade.
Fires light up the night sky in Kstovo where Russian officials said air defences had repelled a drone barrage
Lt Gen Kyrylo Budanov, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, alluded to foreign pressure to ease strikes on Russian energy assets as the US-Israel war in Iran continues.
“Let’s answer this diplomatically. We are receiving certain signals about this,” he told Bloomberg.
Lt Gen Budanov, the former head of Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence agency, did not specify any further details on what countries had asked Kyiv to pause the strikes.
But he claimed Donald Trump’s peace envoys could make their first visits to Kyiv as part of the US president’s efforts to end the long-running war in Ukraine.
“[Jared] Kushner, [Steve] Witkoff, Lindsey Graham – ⁠those are the ones expected to come. Who else will be there – ⁠we’ll see,” Lt Gen Budanov said.
This would be their first official visit to Ukraine after travelling to Russia a number of times for direct talks with Vladimir Putin.
Washington’s peace efforts have taken a back seat since Mr Trump ordered the first attacks on Iran.
Both Mr Witkoff and Mr Kushner are also responsible for any diplomatic talks with Tehran.
In a separate interview, Mr Zelensky said Russia was “playing games” with Mr Trump and his negotiators trying to mediate talks between Kyiv and Moscow.
“I am 100 per cent convinced the Russians want to fully occupy us. That’s why we need to stop them, reach the ceasefire, make strong security guarantees, and then move it all to diplomacy,” the Ukrainian president told the Associate Press.
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