Key facts
- Russian state media said Ukrainian drones set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast overnight.
- Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent they never agreed to Jared Kushner's request for a 30-day pause in refinery strikes.
- Kremlin officials said the refinery raids restarted on Friday and accused Kyiv of ignoring US wishes.
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine destroyed a Pantsir missile system at a defense enterprise in Russia's Rostov region.
- Zelenskyy said Russia lost 54,400 military personnel killed and wounded in October, the highest monthly figure of the war.
- A US-brokered six-day ceasefire in the occupied town of Oleshky was due to end late on Sunday.
Ukraine resumed long-range drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, with Russian state media reporting on Sunday that the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast was set on fire overnight. The strike followed a major attack on another large refinery in Samara oblast owned by the Russian state energy giant Rosneft.
The Wall Street Journal had reported that Ukraine gave in to White House pressure to stop bombing Russian energy infrastructure. Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent they never agreed to a demand from Jared Kushner, the US president's son-in-law, to pause refinery strikes for 30 days. Kremlin officials said the raids restarted on Friday and complained that Kyiv is "simply ignoring" US wishes.
Trump has blamed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the rise in global fuel prices and last month lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel. Zelenskyy has not acknowledged the refinery attacks, instead saying his forces hit a defense industry enterprise in Russia's Rostov region that made missiles and destroyed a Pantsir missile system.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine was obliged to retaliate against Russian drone and ballistic missile attacks on city energy facilities. Four Ukrainian regions were hit overnight, cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of households, and Kyiv experienced power cuts lasting eight to ten hours on Sunday after a critical thermal power plant was damaged.
Zelenskyy said Russia suffered 54,400 military personnel killed and wounded in October, the highest monthly figure since the full-scale war began, and that Ukraine recaptured 96.2 sqkm last month, 10.4 sqkm more than Moscow seized.
The attacks came as a six-day local ceasefire brokered by the US first lady, Melania Trump, was due to end late on Sunday in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. Ukrainian observers said the Russian military used the truce to reinforce positions, and the pope said on Sunday he hoped cooperation on the ceasefire would strengthen willingness to engage in dialogue.