Zelenskyy Rebukes Trump After Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil Terminal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly rebuked President Donald Trump after Ukraine struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg, defying Trump's demand to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said Russia has launched nearly 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles at Ukraine in the past week, and argued that pressure must be applied to Moscow, not Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a sharp public rebuke to President Donald Trump after Ukraine struck a Russian oil terminal in St. Petersburg, directly defying the U.S. president's demand that attacks on energy infrastructure stop. Russian state media described the strike as one of the largest drone attacks of the year, and it came just a week after Trump claimed a ceasefire had been brokered between Ukraine and Russia to halt such strikes.
The rupture has been building for days. Three days after Trump's ceasefire announcement, Ukraine's access to Starlink — the internet service operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX — was abruptly restricted, and subsequent reporting suggested the order to limit the service came directly from the White House. Zelenskyy has since broken with Trump publicly, and on Sunday he defended Ukraine's latest attack on Russian energy infrastructure in scathing terms.
In a statement, Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukraine with almost 2,700 attack drones, 1,700 aerial bombs and 66 missiles over the past week, most of them ballistic. He said the main targets were energy facilities, with Russia trying to cause a blackout. «America should see that Russia is not taking any reciprocal steps in response to sanctions relief or agreements,» Zelenskyy said. «On the contrary, they take every signal of an opportunity to make money as proof that their bet on war is paying off and they can keep fighting.»
Zelenskyy's statement also detailed the human cost of the past week. He said Russia had deliberately attacked Ukraine's energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times since the American president announced the energy ceasefire, including strikes overnight on substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions. Tens of thousands of families remain without power, and energy workers and repair crews are working virtually around the clock to restore supply.
Overnight strikes also hit residential buildings, injuring 12 people, including two children, and killing two, according to Zelenskyy. He said a morning strike hit an agricultural enterprise in Volyn, with all necessary services working at the site. «It is because of this position of Russia's that the war continues, not because Ukraine is rightfully defending itself,» Zelenskyy said. «It is Russia that must face pressure for peace to have a chance.»
The clash comes as Trump has increasingly pressed Zelenskyy to cede territory to Russia in his bid to end the war. Zelenskyy has refused, prompting a threat from Trump to cut Ukraine off from U.S. intelligence. The White House has also moved to ease some economic pressure on Moscow, temporarily relaxing restrictions on Russian diesel in hopes of drawing Vladimir Putin closer to a peace deal — a gamble that has drawn opposition from Republicans on Capitol Hill and skepticism from energy analysts over whether the volumes involved would meaningfully lower prices for Americans.
Six Republican senators joined Democrats this week in urging Trump to reverse the diesel decision, while five House Republicans signed a separate bipartisan letter Thursday seeking to revoke the Treasury authorization. The resistance comes as Washington approaches an Oct. 18, 2026, deadline to begin implementing a sweeping new sanctions law Congress overwhelmingly approved to increase economic pressure on Russia. Trump has defended the agreement as a way to add supply to a strained global diesel market, telling reporters that the fuel «is going to be released into the world for the world market because the world market suffers with high prices.»
For now, the public exchange between the two presidents has laid bare the widening distance between Washington's push for a negotiated settlement and Kyiv's insistence that Moscow, not Ukraine, must be pressed to stop the war.
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