Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine is defying President Trump and resuming strikes on Russian oil refineries after Moscow repeatedly broke the US-backed energy cease-fire.
“The block is out. We’re done,” Zelensky told the Financial Times during a London visit.
The decision came after Ukraine complied with the cease-fire for three days while Moscow continued to launch more than 100 attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the past week, Zelensky fumed.
Moments after Zelensky’s announcement, Pavel Malkov, the governor of Russia’s Ryazan province, confirmed that Ukrainian drone strikes hit a state oil company, sparking a fire.
Zelensky has long defended attacks on Russian oil facilities as a means to hamper Moscow’s war funds while also retaliating for strikes on Ukrainian power plants.
Trump, however, called for a moratorium on strikes against energy facilities after announcing a deal to purchase more than 2.25 million barrels of diesel from Russia to deal with a global shortage.
Tension over the cease-fire and deal boiled over after Zelensky accused the US of trying to strong-arm Ukraine into accepting the cease-fire deal while Russian fire still continued.
US military officials allegedly told Ukraine, “if you will not stop [the energy strikes], we will block intelligence,” Zelensky claimed.
Trump denied that Washington had ever cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine after Kyiv’s Starlink satellite system momentarily failed earlier this week.
Zelensky also lambasted Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and affinity for autocrats.
“He [Trump] speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” Zelensky told the FT. “Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong.”
The Ukrainian president ultimately called on Trump to reject business ties with Russia and commit itself to helping Ukraine fight off Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
Zelensky admitted that without the US, fighting back the Russian invasion would be “very difficult.”
