President Trump has made it clear that Ukraine’s Prime Minister, Volodymyr Zelensky, is not the man to end the Ukraine War. He has pulled back verbal, and even material support, including scaling back intelligence support for Ukraine. The final straw for Trump came with Zelensky refusing to stop bombing Russian diesel refineries.
To Trump’s recent insistence Ukraine stop bombing Russian diesel refineries, Zelensky responded “The block is out. We’re done.” At home, Zelensky faces numerous allegations of corruption as more and more Ukrainians grow weary of fighting for a country that has no free elections.
Zelensky defies Trump, says Ukraine will resume strikes on Russian oil refineries– rmx.news
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EXCERPT:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine is ending a brief pause on attacks against Russian oil refineries and will resume the strikes, despite warnings from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Zelensky told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday.
Ukraine had refrained from striking Russian energy facilities for three days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced what he called an “energy ceasefire,” Zelensky said. During that period, Russian forces continued attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian areas. Zelensky said more than 100 civilians were killed in Russian strikes over the past week.
Trump had pressed Ukraine to halt the refinery attacks, which he linked to rising diesel and fuel prices. He also moved to ease restrictions on Russian diesel imports. Moscow never confirmed it had agreed to any reciprocal pause on energy strikes.
Ukraine has for months used long-range drones to target Russian refineries in an effort to reduce revenue and fuel supplies supporting Moscow’s war effort. Western and Ukrainian assessments have reported significant damage to Russia’s refining capacity.