Kyiv Resumed Intensive Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries After Washington Ignored Its Demands
A new series of strikes began directly before the US elections and anticipated trilateral negotiations.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are attacking Russian oil refineries (NPS) for the second day in a row after a two-week pause. Kyiv temporarily limited the strikes under pressure from Donald Trump, however, Russia continued to attack Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and the US did not accept Ukraine's conditions for ceasing attacks. A new series of strikes began directly before the US elections and anticipated trilateral negotiations, writes "Agentstvo".
Today, an oil refinery was attacked in Ufa. The day before, Ukraine attacked Rosneft's Novokuibyshevsk refinery. Another fire broke out near Rosneft's oil depot near Sheremetyevo.
Prior to this, Kyiv had not struck Russian oil refineries since October 15, when the Ryazan plant was damaged.
The lull began amid demands from Donald Trump to stop attacks on oil refineries. The US President links the strikes on them with rising diesel prices in the US.
On October 11, Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to immediately cease mutual strikes on energy facilities.
And although this was not again agreed upon by Moscow and Kyiv, Ukraine declared its readiness to support a ceasefire, after which Kyiv did not attack Russian oil refineries for three days. Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities continued, and on October 15, Zelensky stated that "enough is enough."
On the same day, a strike was carried out on the Ryazan oil refinery, but after that, there was another pause for several weeks.
According to The Wall Street Journal, already in mid-October, Ukrainian long-range strike units were informed of a de facto cessation of attacks on oil refineries after the completion of operations already underway.
The pause period coincided with several other events that could have influenced the tactics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' air strikes.
From October 14 to 24, Ukrainian military personnel faced problems with Starlink terminals, and on October 20-21, a new round of negotiations took place involving American negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (the latter participated via video link). Kushner directly demanded from Zelensky a 30-day cessation of attacks as a gesture of gratitude to the US for its mediation, WSJ wrote.
During the pause, Zelensky articulated several conditions, upon the fulfillment of which Kyiv would be ready to abandon strikes on Russian oil refineries given continued Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure: permission to use Starlink over Russian territory; transfer of Patriot missiles. None of these conditions were met.
On Friday, the US approved the sale to Ukraine of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles worth 2.1 billion dollars at the expense of Ukraine and its partners. However, the missiles have not yet been manufactured, and their deliveries may only begin in several years.
According to WSJ, some European allies advised Ukraine to wait for the American elections, but Kyiv resumed attacks earlier.
They are resuming on the eve of trilateral negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the US and could strengthen Kyiv's position: during the pause, Russian oil refineries increased oil processing by approximately a quarter.
There is no reaction from Trump yet. It is assumed that he will make his statement under conditions where American companies refuse to buy fuel sent as part of the diesel deal with Moscow.
On Thursday, The Washington Sun reported that business fears reputational and legal consequences: a Trump order and a US Treasury Department permit may not be sufficient to lift sanctions imposed by Congress.
Earlier, Dmitry Peskov stated that strikes on Russian oil refineries do not jeopardize the holding of negotiations.
Comments
Калі 500 ракет пак-3 яны могуць даць у 2030 годзе, хай тады ў 30м годзе і просяць каб не бамбілі расію.