Fire at Russian refinery as Zelensky says Ukraine will resume oil strikes

A senior Ukrainian official has told the Associated Press that Ukraine hit an oil refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region early on Thursday, 15 October. Regional governor Pavel Malkov reported a fire at the site. The attack followed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement that Kyiv would resume strikes on Russian refineries after what he described as a three-day pause requested by the US. [5] [2] [4]

Russia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted four Flamingo cruise missiles and 69 drones between 04:00 and 07:00 Moscow time. It blamed falling drone debris for the fire. Malkov did not specify how the blaze began; he said damage was still being assessed. He also reported damage to a warehouse and vehicles at another business in Ryazan, and said preliminary information indicated no injuries. [1] [2]

Zelensky told the Financial Times that Ukraine had held back attacks on refineries for three days at Washington’s request while Russia continued striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to the BBC. On 11 October, after US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire, Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to refrain from hitting Russian energy sites and expected Russia to do the same. He said the proposed halt still needed to become reality. [4] [3]

Whether Ukrainian refinery strikes stopped during those three days is disputed. On Wednesday, Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak accused Ukraine of attacking refineries in the Ryazan and Saratov regions. Zelensky’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn denied that any refineries had been attacked that day. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Ukraine had never stopped such strikes. Those competing claims concern the period before Thursday’s reported attack; they do not establish that a mutual energy ceasefire took hold. [6] [5]