Zelenskyy says Ukraine will restart strikes on Russian oil refineries, he tells Warsaw forum

Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine will resume strikes on Russian oil refineries after a brief pause, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Zelenskyy told the forum that his government had refrained from striking Russian energy infrastructure following an announced "energy ceasefire" by a U.S. president, and that the pause lasted two days. He said the pause had been intended as a step toward reducing attacks on energy sites but that Ukraine was prepared to restart strikes on refineries. Zelenskyy also said he was "horribly surprised" that, hours after the announced ceasefire, Russian forces struck a power plant in Kharkiv and attacked a gas production facility and a civilian gas station, the article said. The president described Ukraine's temporary restraint when the U.S. announcement was made and discussed the issue later in an interview on Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom," according to the report. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article quotes Zelenskyy describing a prior social media post in which he said both countries had agreed "not to hit" each other's energy infrastructure but did not provide details of that proposal. The article also cites a statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said that, in case of a Ukrainian election, Vladimir Putin would be ready to halt strikes on Ukraine "specifically on election day," and that Kyiv allegedly sought a longer ceasefire to "gather their strength, heal their wounds, and continue the war."

A separate headline from Euromaidan Press states Ukraine said it hit 12 Russian refineries in September; the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article does not provide a count for September strikes but the headline list in this package corroborates reporting that Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure occurred earlier. Other headlines in the package record reporting that Ukraine had not struck refineries for two days and that Zelenskyy criticised Russia for striking Kharkiv after the announced ceasefire. Zelenskyy's comments at the Warsaw forum and in the Fox News interview frame Ukraine's position as conditional: Kyiv paused strikes following the announced energy ceasefire but signalled that it would restart them. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article reports both the pause and Zelenskyy's stated readiness to resume attacks on Russian refineries without providing additional operational details or independent verification of counts of strikes.