Drone attack fires Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery as Kyiv abandons the US-brokered ceasefire on energy sites — deepening the worst rift with Washington since 2022.
Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, 15 October 2026, hours after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared Kyiv was “done” observing a US-brokered ceasefire on energy infrastructure — a move that risks opening the deepest rift between Kyiv and Washington since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
The target was a Rosneft-owned refinery in the Ryazan region, southeast of Moscow, responsible for nearly 5% of Russia’s refinery throughput and a key supplier to the capital. Regional governor Pavel Malkov said a major Ukrainian drone attack triggered a fire at the plant. Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the impact of Ukraine’s long-range campaign, saying it had caused “nothing particularly significant.”
How the truce collapsed
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to halt strikes on energy sites. Kyiv suspended its refinery campaign — attacks Trump blames for pushing global diesel prices higher. Russia, however, responded with waves of missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian energy targets, including power stations, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of people.
“The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” Zelenskiy told the Financial Times in an interview published Thursday, saying Ukraine’s patience had run out.
The personal dimension
Zelenskiy also broke with diplomatic caution, criticising what he described as Trump’s readiness to cut deals with Moscow, his apparent admiration for Putin and his affinity for entrenched power. “He speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” Zelenskiy said, referring to leaders who rule “20 years, 30 years, 40 years.” Relations between the two have been strained since the February 2025 Oval Office shouting match.
The Starshield and intelligence row
Zelenskiy said this week’s degradation of military-grade Starlink terminals — which crippled Ukraine’s drone guidance — was “not a technical problem, it was the will,” calling it a policy decision. Elon Musk responded that Starshield systems “are owned and controlled by the US government” and that limits on speed or usage “are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”
British Defence Minister Wes Streeting said he and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed the partial restoration of the service. A Ukrainian defence ministry source said the terminals now function in motion but only up to 100 mph (160 kph) — too slow, Kyiv says, for mid-range attack missions and interceptor drones. Ukraine also says it has for several days gone without the US satellite-based early warnings of incoming Russian missiles, an allegation Trump denies.
Wider fallout
The rupture comes as Ukrainian troops remain dependent on American technology and intelligence. Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, along with defence experts, shows Russia has in six weeks nearly completed a major base in southern Russia for launching jet-powered drones.
At least 20
In the Black Sea, rescuers searched for seven missing sailors after drones struck two chemical tankers near Romania’s coast, setting them ablaze — the latest attack on shipping along a route vital to Ukrainian exports.
The Kremlin said Ukraine’s targeting of Russian energy infrastructure “ran counter” to US peace efforts, and claimed the scope of the energy ceasefire had never been defined. Zelenskiy was due at an EU summit on Friday, where he is pressing for stronger air defences.
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