The hit on Russian soil comes amid pressure from U.S. to stop such operations
By Marcus Walker and Nikita Nikolaienko
Ukraine struck an oil refinery in Russia's Samara region early on Friday, ending a two-week pause in refinery attacks that came amid heavy pressure from the Trump administration to halt such operations.
Photos and video footage posted on social media showed columns of smoke rising into the sky over the Novokuibyshevsk refinery.
Ukrainian forces last hit an oil refinery on Oct. 15, and had not struck Russian oil infrastructure of any kind since Oct. 20. The pause took place against a background of repeated demands by Trump and other U.S. officials to stop hitting refineries.
The Ukrainian military's decision to end its self-imposed restraint came against a background of intensifying Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities. Russian drones and missiles had killed at least 27 civilians and injured over 100 across Ukraine on Thursday. In the single deadliest incident, a Russian drone attack killed 15 people on a railway platform in the city of Dnipro.
Russia has continued to escalate its airstrikes on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, inflicting a mounting civilian death toll. Moscow is systematically targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure in a bid to destroy cities' heating and electricity supply this winter.
Trump has publicly blamed Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries for high global fuel prices, which energy experts mostly attribute to the U.S.-Iran war. Trump also called for Zelensky's removal earlier this month and blamed him for Russia's continuing war on Ukraine.
Kyiv also came under pressure from Elon Musk's SpaceX, which on Oct. 14 imposed speed limits on Ukraine's military-grade version of the Starlink satellite internet service. The speed limit paralyzed some drone operations for 10 days, until SpaceX restored the service on Oct. 24.
Ukraine's military has been exercising caution about refinery strikes because of the delicate diplomatic situation with the U.S., Ukraine's Defense Minister Evgeniy Khmara told President Volodymyr Zelensky recently, according to a person familiar with the matter. Zelensky accepted this but said the military was free to change its stance, the person said.
"Our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days. But they do not have an order" not to hit refineries, Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday.
The decision to hit Novokuibyshevsk came despite advice from European allies for Kyiv to hold off until after the U.S. midterm elections, to reduce the recent tensions between Zelensky and Trump.
Zelensky has said Ukraine wants more protection for its own energy infrastructure in exchange for halting refinery strikes.
Ukraine's campaign against Russian refineries has been aimed at undermining oil revenues that help finance Moscow's invasion of its smaller neighbor. Kyiv fears that ending the strikes would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to prolong his devastating war on Ukraine.