Ukraine just ended its energy ceasefire and bombed a Russian refinery
1 hour ago · 16 October 2026Share
Black smoke rises from a fire at an oil refinery near Moscow on June 18, 2026, following a Ukrainian strike. File photo. Rotafinus · CC0
Ukraine just blew up a Russian oil refinery. And Ukraine's president just said the energy ceasefire is dead.
So what happened? Drones hit a refinery in Russia's Ryazan region overnight. Pavel Malkov, the region's governor, said on Telegram that a large Ukrainian drone attack started a fire there.
The refinery belongs to Rosneft, Russia's state oil company. It handles close to five per cent of all the oil Russia refines. Reuters and Al Jazeera say it sits around 180 kilometres south of Moscow. Kyiv Post says around 300 kilometres. That gap isn't settled yet.
Kyiv hasn't officially claimed the strike. Only one senior Ukrainian official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, has confirmed it.
But Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, has said plenty. He told the Financial Times the energy ceasefire is over. His words: "The block is out. We're done."
So how did we get here? Five days ago, Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop hitting each other's energy sites. Ukraine held off hitting Russian refineries for three days.
Russia didn't hold off at all.
Zelenskyy says Russian missiles and drones kept hitting Ukrainian power stations the whole time, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of people. Russia fired more than 850 drones at Ukraine in a single overnight period, hitting 15 regions, Zelenskyy says. A Russian drone attack that lasted more than ten hours on Ukraine's Kirovohrad region killed three people and wounded six.
And here's the part that goes beyond the refinery. Zelenskyy also went after Trump's whole approach to Russia. He said Trump speaks admiringly about leaders who hold on to power for decades. He put it this way: Trump talks openly about respecting leaders who can stay in power for 20, 30, even 40 years, because to him that signals strength.
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Contains modified NASA FIRMS imagery showing thermal anomalies at Afipsky refinery. File photo. Imagery from LANCE FIRMS operated by NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) with funding provided by NASA Headquarters. · Public domain
Trump responded on Newsmax. He said Ukraine resuming refinery strikes was a disgrace, and said he finds Zelenskyy harder to deal with than Vladimir Putin, Russia's president. That is Kyiv Post's account of the Newsmax interview. Nobody else has confirmed it independently.
The Kremlin says Ukraine's strikes on Russian energy sites go against American peace efforts. Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, called the refinery strikes a direct and crude challenge to Trump. Putin himself said the long-range Ukrainian strikes caused nothing particularly significant. Russia's defence ministry says Ukraine attempted a large-scale attack on the refinery, and that the fire started after drone debris fell onto the site.
So is there a way back to a ceasefire? Zelenskyy says Ukraine would only consider pausing refinery strikes again if the United States sends more Patriot air defence interceptors. He calls that the minimum Ukraine would accept. He also says Ukraine has stopped getting the usual Western warnings about incoming Russian missiles for several days. Trump denies the US stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine.
There's a separate fight happening over Starlink. Military-grade Starshield receivers mounted on Ukrainian drones reportedly stopped guiding properly at speed. A Ukrainian defence ministry source says they now only work up to 100mph, too slow for many attack and interceptor drone missions. Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX, wrote on social media that Starshield usage limits are set by the US military and the president, not by him. He also wrote that it's time for Zelenskyy to go.
Zelenskyy has travelled to Brussels to meet European leaders ahead of an EU summit, pushing for tougher sanctions on Russia. Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, put it plainly: "We have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim to surrender."
Separately, seven sailors are missing after two chemical tankers caught fire near Romania's Black Sea coast, reportedly hit by drones.
The Ryazan refinery isn't new to this. Ukrainian drones have hit it several times already this year, including in May, July, August and September.
So what's still not known? Whether the United States will take any action against Ukraine over the strike. What damage the refinery actually suffered. And whether Trump will say anything more beyond his Newsmax remarks.
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