Ukraine Resumes Drone Strikes on Russian Refineries as the Oleshky Truce Ends, Despite U.S. Pressure Before the Midterms

Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries despite pressure from the Trump administration to halt them before Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections, The Guardian reported Sunday, as a six-day local ceasefire in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky came to an end.

Russian state media said Ukrainian long-range drones set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod region overnight, soon after a major strike on a large refinery in Samara region owned by the state energy company Rosneft, according to The Guardian. A satellite image showed smoke rising from the Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Samara after a reported attack on Friday.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that Ukraine gave in to White House pressure to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure, The Guardian noted. But Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that they never agreed to a demand from Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, to pause refinery strikes for 30 days. Kremlin officials said the raids restarted Friday and complained that Kyiv was now "simply ignoring" U.S. wishes.

Trump has blamed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for rising global fuel prices and last month lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel, The Guardian reported.

Zelenskyy has not acknowledged the latest refinery attacks. He said instead that Ukrainian forces had hit a defense plant in Russia's Rostov region that made missiles, and destroyed a Pantsir missile system, part of what he calls Ukraine's "long-range sanctions." He has said Kyiv could halt refinery strikes if Russia stopped attacking Ukraine's energy system, RBC-Ukraine reported.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine was obliged to retaliate for Moscow's campaign against city energy facilities. Four Ukrainian regions were hit overnight, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of households, and Kyiv had power cuts of eight to 10 hours on Sunday after a critical thermal power plant was damaged, according to The Guardian. "The intensity of the strikes is very high, and the Russians are seeking to maximally exploit the deficit of ballistic missile interceptors," Zelenskyy said.

He said Russia lost 54,400 military personnel killed and wounded in October, the highest monthly figure since the full-scale invasion, and that Ukraine recaptured 96.2 square kilometers of territory last month, 10.4 more than Russia seized. Those are Ukrainian government figures and could not be independently verified.

The local truce in Oleshky, brokered by first lady Melania Trump, ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said, calling it an "important step in our joint humanitarian efforts." Hundreds of residents were reunited with relatives over the weekend, and both sides described the evacuation as a success, The Guardian reported. The town sits on the left bank of the Dnipro, opposite Kherson.

Ukrainian observers said Russian forces used the pause to reinforce positions and rotate troops, and expect a renewed offensive.

Minutes after the truce ended, Ukraine's air force said it suspected its air raid alert app had been hacked after false alerts of a radiation threat appeared; hours later Russia's emergencies ministry said its own warning app had been hit by a "massive cyber-attack," according to The Guardian.

Trilateral talks among Russia, Ukraine and the United States are likely later this month, and Kremlin officials said Vladimir Putin was willing to speak directly with Zelenskyy by phone, without European leaders, The Guardian reported. Putin's demands remain that Ukraine give up all of Donetsk region and more territory in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.