Ukraine denies agreeing to halt Russian refinery strikes, says attacks will continue without public acknowledgment to avoid Trump tensions

Ukraine has denied agreeing to suspend strikes on Russian oil refineries until after the U.S. midterm elections, directly challenging an earlier Wall Street Journal report that Kyiv had accepted a temporary pause following pressure from the Trump administration.

A senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure would continue, but Kyiv would refrain from publicly claiming responsibility for some operations to avoid creating tensions with President Donald Trump’s administration.

“We will continue hitting Russian oil infrastructure, but we will not publicly take responsibility for some of these strikes so as not to irritate the Trump administration,” the official said.

The account contradicts the Wall Street Journal’s earlier report that Ukraine had informally paused attacks on Russian refineries since mid-October after Trump pressed Kyiv to stop the campaign amid uncertainty over continued U.S. support.

The Journal reported that the pause was expected to remain in place until after the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections.

A U.S. official, however, told the Kyiv Independent that Washington had largely reacted with “indifference” to continued Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure.

The official also said the CIA was continuing to provide intelligence supporting Ukraine’s campaign against Russia’s energy sector.

Kyiv has increasingly targeted refineries and other oil facilities deep inside Russia, seeking to disrupt fuel production, reduce Moscow’s energy revenues and raise the economic cost of the war.

The competing accounts leave a sharp dispute over whether Kyiv ever accepted Washington’s request for a temporary halt. Ukraine’s latest position is that the campaign itself is continuing, even if responsibility for individual attacks is no longer publicly acknowledged.