Ryazan Refinery Ablaze as Ukraine Resumes Attacks on Russian Refineries and Relations with Trump Sour

Strike hits Ryazan refinery

Ukrainian drones struck a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region early Thursday, according to Russian officials and a senior Ukrainian official. The attack started a fire at the facility, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Moscow.

Russia’s Defense Ministry and Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov reported the fire. Russia’s Astra online news outlet published an image it described as showing the blaze. The Ukrainian official confirmed the strike but spoke anonymously, saying they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Dispute over the truce

The strike followed Zelenskyy’s announcement that a short-lived truce was over. He said Russia continued aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure despite Trump’s Sunday call for both sides to stop such strikes.

Ukraine’s government said it had observed the ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov countered that Ukraine had never halted attacks on refineries. The competing accounts could not be independently verified in full.

Tensions with Washington deepen

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been deprived in recent days of the usual Western intelligence about Russian ballistic missile attacks and faced limits on its use of U.S.-made Starlink terminals. Kyiv officials said the Starlink restrictions hindered Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and strike back.

Trump has said the United States has not stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. Elon Musk wrote on X that Starshield, Starlink’s military version, is controlled by the U.S. military and Trump. In a Financial Times interview published Thursday, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries would resume and was quoted as saying, “We’re done.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called Ukraine’s attacks on oil facilities a “direct and crude challenge to President Trump.”

Zelenskyy criticizes Trump deal

In an interview with Piers Morgan late Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he felt betrayed by Trump’s agreement with Putin, the truce announcement and the Starlink problems. Zelenskyy told Morgan, “Our country has to survive,” and said Ukraine counted on the United States and Trump as strategic partners. Zelenskyy said the United States was “losing a strong partner” and described Trump’s choice of sides as painful. He also said someone was pushing Trump toward a position he considered “not the right side of history.”