It took Ukraine just hours to turn President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “we’re done” into a refinery fire.
Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s Ryazan refinery on Thursday, ending Kyiv’s brief pause in attacks on Russian energy infrastructure after Zelenskyy said Moscow had ignored the ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Rosneft-owned refinery sits about 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow and accounts for nearly 5% of Russia’s refinery throughput. Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov confirmed a fire at the facility following what he described as a major Ukrainian drone attack. The extent of the damage is still being assessed.
Ukraine had suspended refinery attacks for three days following Trump’s Sunday announcement that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop hitting energy infrastructure.
But more than 500 Russian drones were launched overnight into Thursday, according to Ukrainian authorities. State-owned Naftogaz said a gas production facility in the Poltava region was damaged and operations there were suspended.
Zelenskyy told the Financial Times Thursday that the restriction on refinery attacks was finished.
“The block is out. We’re done,” he said.
For the diesel market, the end to the ceasefire is painful.
Trump has pressured Kyiv to stop attacking Russian refineries as global diesel supplies tighten and U.S. diesel prices remain above $6 per gallon. Russian refining has already been repeatedly disrupted by Ukrainian drone attacks, reducing fuel production and exports.
Ryazan has been hit before, making Thursday’s strike another potential setback for a refining system that has spent much of 2026 repairing damaged units while trying to maintain fuel supply.
The attack turns an announcement made early Thursday into an actual change on the ground. Hours after Zelenskyy said refinery strikes would resume, one of Russia’s largest refining centers was burning again.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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