Trump calls Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian refineries 'a disgrace'

Donald Trump has called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries "a disgrace". He made the comment in a Newsmax interview aired on Thursday, as Kyiv resumed attacks after a brief pause.

Trump said the strikes on diesel refineries raise the world oil price, The Guardian. In the same interview, he said he is "not a big fan of Zelenskyy" and finds Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy more difficult to deal with than Putin.

Ukraine resumed the strikes after Zelenskyy said Kyiv was abandoning a ceasefire, a temporary halt to fighting, declared by Trump last week. Neither Russia nor Ukraine had said they agreed to that ceasefire. Ukraine struck a Russian oil refinery on Thursday, October 15, Reuters.

The resumption follows a US-Russia arrangement last week in which Trump eased sanctions, economic restrictions, on Russia in exchange for Moscow releasing large amounts of diesel onto global markets. Zelenskyy criticised that agreement, saying it would allow Russia to continue its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy arrived in Brussels on Friday to meet leaders of the European Union. He did not comment on Trump's latest remarks. He said Ukraine wants to end the war as quickly as possible but sees no signals Russia is ready for this.

Separately, Ukraine said services from Starlink, a satellite internet system, had been restricted this week, hobbling Ukrainian drone strike missions and air defences. Zelenskyy said during a visit to London this week that the restriction left him feeling personally betrayed by Trump. UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said on Thursday that his US counterpart Pete Hegseth had assured him the Starlink system had been restored.