Photo: facebook.com_zelenskyy.official
Ukraine is ready to suspend attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow also stops striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, or if Kyiv receives Patriot air defense missiles in exchange, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with Fox News.
Zelenskyy said he had held “several different” discussions on the issue with US President Donald Trump and his advisers. Washington has been asking Kyiv to stop the attacks.
“We said: We cannot refrain from responding when Russia attacks our energy infrastructure, kills our people and strikes electricity facilities, gas infrastructure and oil refineries — everything,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukraine would be prepared to halt the strikes if Russia also stopped attacking the Ukrainian energy system.
“There is another option: give us Patriot missiles. We will find the money — this is not simply a request for assistance. We are ready to pay for them,” Zelenskyy said.
He stressed that Ukraine would suspend the attacks only for as long as it received the missiles.
“If you want us not to attack Russian oil refineries for a month, give us Patriots for a month,” the president said.
Ukraine resumes strikes on Russian refineries
Ukraine refrained from attacking Russian oil refineries for two weeks following a request from the Trump administration. However, Russia continued striking civilian infrastructure during that period.
On Friday, Ukraine’s Armed Forces resumed the attacks. Over three days, they struck three refineries, disabling around 10% of Russia’s oil refining capacity.
The facilities were the Kstovo refinery, Novokuibyshevsk refinery and Bashneft-Novoil. Together, they have an annual processing capacity of approximately 33 million tonnes of oil.
In October, Russia’s Samara oil hub was also hit in an attack and caught fire again. The facility had previously been struck on October 2, when Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed damage to 11 RVS-20,000 storage tanks and three RVSPK-50,000 tanks.
On the morning of November 2, drones attacked Russia’s Samara region again. The likely target was the Samara linear production and dispatch station in the town of Prosvet. A fire broke out near the facility following the attack.
