As Ukraine renewed attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, US President Donald Trump lashed out at the strategy, calling it a “disgrace” and warning it is helping keep global energy costs high.
Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was walking away from a ceasefire covering energy sites that Mr Trump had announced, and criticised Mr Trump’s readiness to pursue deals with Moscow.
Speaking to the Newsmax news outlet, Mr Trump said the latest refinery strike—at a Rosneft facility southeast of Moscow that helps supply the Russian capital—was pushing prices in the wrong direction.
“All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump argued that while there are “a lot of targets” in war, hitting diesel refineries carries global consequences because fuel supplies affect not only Russia but international markets.
“There are a lot of targets you can hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he’s not doing a good service for the world,” said Mr Trump.
The remarks came as Russia unleashed missile and drone attacks that struck energy infrastructure, including power stations, cutting supply to hundreds of thousands. Mr Zelensky told the Financial Times that Ukraine’s patience had run out.
Mr Trump’s administration has been working to broker a ceasefire aimed at ending the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In the same interview, Mr Trump again said he believes Mr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin “hate each other,” a dynamic he said complicates any push to stop the fighting.
“I’m not a big fan of Zelensky,” Mr Trump said. “I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I think I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
Even as Mr Trump urged Kyiv to stop targeting Russian refineries, Ukraine was confronted with reduced use of a satellite system it depends on for battlefield communications and drone operations.
Two US officials and a western official briefed on the matter said the directive originated inside the White House, without identifying who made the decision or who oversaw carrying it out.
With relations with Mr Trump under strain, Mr Zelensky travelled to Brussels to meet NATO chief Mark Rutte and held a series of bilateral talks with European leaders ahead of joining an EU summit today.
