Russia has accused Ukraine of attacking an oil refinery after Volodymyr Zelensky said such strikes, which had been halted at the request of the US, would resume.
The Ukrainian president said he had restricted attacks for three days while Russia had continued striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. “We’re done,” he told the Financial Times, external.
Zelensky also accused the US of withdrawing intelligence-sharing on Russian strikes to pressure Kyiv into ending the attacks altogether after it struck a deal to import Russian diesel, and said restrictions to Starlink satellite services used by Ukraine’s military were deliberate.
The Kremlin has since said Kyiv “attempted a large-scale attack” on a refinery south of Moscow early on Thursday.
According to Russia’s defence ministry, four missiles and dozens of drones were intercepted and the falling debris had caused a fire at the site in Ryazan.
Zelensky meanwhile said dozens of Ukrainian cities had come under Russian attack in the past day.
He previously said he would agree to the so-called “energy ceasefire” announced by US President Donald Trump on Sunday if Moscow also abided by it.
But he accused Russia of ignoring the proposed deal within hours of it being announced, with strikes leaving hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without power. The Kremlin never said it agreed to the deal.
Zelensky agreed that he felt betrayed by the US when asked by Piers Morgan on Wednesday night, after Washington appeared to withdraw key elements of its support.
The Ukrainian leader told the FT that Ukrainian officials had been told by US counterparts that “if you will not stop [the strikes], we will block intelligence”.
Ukraine’s military relies on US early-warning alerts of incoming Russian aerial attacks to mount air defences, limiting successful strikes, while Starlink internet links are used throughout its war effort to guide drones and protect its skies.
After the unexpected restriction to the speed at which drones could fly while still maintaining Starlink internet connection on Tuesday, there were suggestions a technical glitch was to blame. But owner Elon Musk appeared to deny this, suggesting it was the Trump administration‘s doing. Trump denied halting intelligence-sharing.
“It was not a technical problem, it was the will,” Zelensky told the FT.
Sources in Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence told the BBC early on Thursday that Starshield’s “operation while on the move” had been restored, referring to the the military-focused version of Starlink.
They said officials were still working to clarify “the reasons and circumstances behind yesterday’s restrictions”.
Neo, a soldier with one of Ukraine’s drone reconnaissance units, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that any deliberate restrictions on the Starlink network would be “a betrayal”.
