Trump condemns Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian refineries

Summary

Donald Trump called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a disgrace and said Volodymyr Zelenskyy was more difficult to deal with than Vladimir Putin, The Guardian reports. The Guardian says Ukraine resumed the strikes after Zelenskyy said Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire declared unilaterally by Trump, following a brief pause in Ukrainian attacks to show readiness for peace talks; Russia continued striking Ukrainian power plants. The BBC reports that Russia accused Ukraine of attacking a refinery after Zelenskyy said the pause on strikes against energy sites was over following fresh Russian attacks. The New York Times reports that Zelenskyy expressed frustration with the United States in an interview with the Financial Times and had paused strikes to comply with a US demand.

Timeline

1. RTÉ

   15 Oct 2026, 04:35 UTCSource ↗

   RTÉ reports that Zelensky said Ukraine would resume hitting Russian oil refineries.

2. South China Morning Post

   15 Oct 2026, 08:08 UTCSource ↗

   The South China Morning Post reports that Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian refineries, defying Trump.

3. Al Jazeera

   15 Oct 2026, 10:02 UTCSource ↗

   Al Jazeera reports that Russia says Ukraine has resumed attacks on oil refineries.

4. The New York Times

   15 Oct 2026, 16:47 UTCSource ↗

   The New York Times reports that Zelensky expressed frustration with the United States in an interview with the Financial Times and that Ukraine had paused strikes to comply with a US demand.

5. BBC

   15 Oct 2026, 16:50 UTCSource ↗

   The BBC reports that Russia accused Ukraine of attacking an oil refinery after Zelensky said the pause on strikes against energy sites was over following fresh Russian attacks.

6. The Guardian

   16 Oct 2026, 10:01 UTCSource ↗

   The Guardian reports that Trump called Ukraine's renewed refinery strikes a disgrace, said Zelenskyy was more difficult to deal with than Putin, and criticized him after the ceasefire collapsed.