Ukraine Ends Energy Truce With Russia, Seeks Patriot Missiles From US

Ukraine has resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would no longer hold back its strikes under an energy ceasefire initiative announced by US President Donald Trump, arguing that Russia continued targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure despite Ukraine’s restraint. Zelenskyy said Ukraine could consider stopping the attacks again if Washington provided additional American-made Patriot air-defence interceptors.

The decision marks a setback for Trump’s effort to secure a temporary halt to attacks on energy facilities in the war, which has repeatedly damaged Ukraine’s electricity and heating systems. On Sunday, October 11, Trump announced on social media that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an immediate energy ceasefire, but the announcement came without publicly detailed terms or clear confirmation from both sides that they had accepted a binding arrangement. Zelenskyy initially said Kyiv was prepared to observe a reciprocal pause, while stressing that Russia needed to stop its own attacks.

Ukraine subsequently reported continued Russian strikes on energy facilities, including attacks affecting infrastructure in Kyiv and Kharkiv. Zelenskyy told an international forum on October 12 that Russian drones had struck a power facility in Kharkiv after Trump’s announcement, while damage to energy infrastructure in the capital had disrupted electricity and water supplies in parts of the city. Reuters also reported Ukrainian claims that Russian attacks had hit at least six energy targets during strikes across the country.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had temporarily refrained from striking Russian refineries to demonstrate its willingness to support the proposed pause. However, in an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, October 15, he said the restriction had been lifted and that Ukrainian forces would resume attacks on Russian energy facilities. Ukraine subsequently struck a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to Reuters and other reports, while Moscow also accused Kyiv of attacking Russian oil infrastructure.

Asked whether Ukraine might stop attacking Russian refineries to ease tensions with Washington, Zelenskyy said he would consider doing so if the United States supplied more Patriot interceptors. Reuters, reporting on his Financial Times interview, quoted him as describing such a supply as the minimum acceptable condition. The request comes as Ukraine faces persistent Russian missile and drone attacks and seeks to strengthen its ability to protect cities and critical infrastructure.

The Patriot system is a US-made air-defence platform that Ukraine relies on to intercept some of Russia’s most dangerous aerial threats, including ballistic missiles. Its interceptors are in demand internationally, and supplies have been strained by competing military needs. A Washington Post report published on October 15 said Ukraine was critically short of Patriot interceptors as Russian attacks intensified, underlining the importance of additional deliveries to Kyiv’s air defences.

The dispute is unfolding amid wider tensions between Kyiv and Washington over the direction of US policy towards the war. Zelenskyy has criticized a recently announced US arrangement involving Russian diesel supplies and expressed concern over disruptions to Ukraine’s access to military satellite communications and intelligence. The Trump administration has also pressed Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian refineries, arguing that such strikes contribute to pressure on fuel markets. Ukraine, however, maintains that it cannot be expected to suspend its attacks while Russian forces continue hitting its own energy network.

The collapse of the proposed energy pause leaves both countries’ energy infrastructure exposed to further attacks as Ukraine approaches another winter of heavy demand for electricity and heating. For Kyiv, the issue is not only whether a temporary halt can be negotiated, but whether it can be enforced on both sides while Ukraine secures the air-defence supplies it says are essential to protecting its population. Without a mutually observed arrangement, the continuing attacks risk deepening damage to power generation and distribution systems and increasing pressure on civilians already affected by outages and disrupted services.