Zelensky offers to halt refinery strikes if Russia stops energy attacks on Ukraine

From the Newshound archive · first published 11 October 2026.

Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to halt Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries on the condition that Moscow stops its own energy infrastructure attacks on Ukraine. The offer came hours after Ukrainian drones struck two major Russian oil facilities — a loading terminal at the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Rostov-on-Don and a large crude hub near Prosvet in the Samara region.

The Novoshakhtinsk refinery reportedly supplies the Russian military and also exports diesel — the same Russian fuel Trump is now seeking to import to cut US pump prices.

Zelensky's conditional ceasefire offer puts Trump in a bind, forcing him to choose between pressuring Putin on energy attacks or accepting Ukraine's strikes continue.

Ukrainian oil facility attacks have become Kyiv's most powerful economic weapon, directly choking Kremlin revenue funding the four-year war.