Ukraine quietly halts Russian refinery strikes, WSJ says

Ukraine's military has unofficially stopped attacking Russian oil refineries after weeks of pressure from President Trump, The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↘ 1.37% reported Thursday. Citing people familiar with the operations, the Journal said the pause began early last week and is expected to last until after the U.S. midterm elections, and possibly further into November. The report says the pressure has shaken Kyiv's confidence in American support. Days before the pause began, Trump called for President Volodymyr Zelensky's removal, and SpaceX restricted Ukraine's access to Starlink. Reuters Thomson Reuters Corporation ↗ 1.63% said it could not immediately verify the report.wsj.com+1

A short truce, then silence

Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine on Oct. 11 without consulting either side first. At a closed-door briefing on Oct. 27, Zelensky said Ukraine had held off on refinery strikes for 72 hours while Russia kept hitting Ukraine's energy grid. "We won't touch the oil refineries," he recalled telling commanders, adding that "no one thanked us for those three days".yahoo.com+1

On Oct. 15, Zelensky told the Financial Times, "The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We're done." Drones then set fire to the Ryazan refinery run by Rosneft. Trump called the renewed strikes a "disgrace". Since then, the attacks have largely stopped. Zelensky has said his forces were never ordered to stand down, but the pace of strikes dropped sharply, and the last reported attacks came on Oct. 15 and Oct. 18.reuters.com+2

Russia's refineries recover

Moscow has benefited from the lull. Three industry sources told Reuters that Russian refineries processed about 25% more crude in the second half of October than at the start of the month, reaching roughly 5 million barrels per day. Diesel output rose to about 225,000 tons per day. Russia's state-aligned newspaper Izvestia reported that unrestricted fuel sales had resumed in 15 Russian regions, including occupied Crimea.kyivindependent.com+1

Kyiv's conditions

The pause is unpopular at home. A KIIS poll released Oct. 28 found that 80% of Ukrainians would keep striking refineries even if Washington cut aid, intelligence or Starlink access. Zelensky has said he would agree to a longer halt only if the U.S. supplied more Patriot interceptors, which he called the "minimum" acceptable. He said Washington wants the strikes stopped without committing to that trade, so whether Ukraine resumes its campaign may depend on what it gets in return.kyivpost.com