Russia Says Ukraine Resumed Refinery Strikes, Hitting Samara and Kstovo, as Kyiv Denies Agreeing to a Pause

Since Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" on Oct. 11 and Zelenskyy declared Ukraine "done" with it on Oct. 15, the refinery question has been the sharpest point of friction between Kyiv and Washington. As of today, Nov. 1, it is back on the battlefield.

What Russia says was hit

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Ukraine resumed refinery strikes on Friday, Oct. 30. "We had a lull that lasted a certain time, but today the attacks on oil refineries resumed," he told Russian state television.

Novak said overnight attacks in Samara region hit three refineries and one gas-chemical complex, and that one facility was slightly damaged. Samara Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said two men were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike. The circumstances of their deaths have not been independently confirmed.

Russian state media said Ukrainian long-range drones then set fire to the Kstovo refinery in Nizhny Novgorod oblast overnight into Sunday. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones across Russian regions in a single night.

Zelenskyy has not publicly acknowledged the refinery strikes. He said Ukrainian forces hit a missile-making defense enterprise in Russia's Rostov region and destroyed a Pantsir air defense system, which he described as part of Ukraine's "long-range sanctions."

Was there ever a pause?

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people with knowledge of the operations, that Ukraine's military had paused refinery strikes under White House pressure. The paper said the unofficial pause was expected to last until after the U.S. midterm elections and possibly deeper into November.

Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent they never agreed to a demand from Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, to halt the strikes for 30 days.

The Kremlin sees it differently. Officials said Kyiv is "simply ignoring" Washington's wishes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately said the strikes do not jeopardize planned trilateral peace talks. Peskov also said earlier this month that Ukraine never stopped hitting refineries. Zelenskyy said Ukraine held off after Trump's Oct. 11 announcement while Russia kept hitting Ukrainian gas and power infrastructure.

Why Kyiv says it is hitting back

Zelenskyy says the strikes answer a Russian campaign against Ukrainian energy. Four Ukrainian regions were hit overnight, and electricity was cut to hundreds of thousands of households. Kyiv saw power cuts of eight to 10 hours Sunday after a critical thermal power plant was damaged.

More than 200,000 people in the central Dnipropetrovsk region remain without power after Russian attacks, local authorities said. That followed a deadly Russian drone strike on a train station there.

Zelenskyy said Russia is "seeking to maximally exploit the deficit of ballistic missile interceptors." In his Oct. 15 Financial Times interview, he said his "minimum" condition for easing off energy targets would be more Patriot interceptors from the United States.

He also claimed Russia took record losses in October, 54,400 killed and wounded, the highest monthly figure since the full-scale invasion began. He said Ukraine retook 96.2 square kilometers last month, 10.4 more than Russia seized. These figures are his government's claims and have not been independently verified.

The diesel problem for Washington

Trump has blamed Zelenskyy for rising global fuel prices. Last month he lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel under a deal with Putin that Kyiv and European allies criticized.

Novak said Russia shipped about 510,000 tonnes of diesel in October under that arrangement and plans about 2.15 million tonnes in November. He warned the Ukrainian strikes could cut those volumes and affect global markets, though he expected any reduction to be limited.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier called Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities a "direct and crude challenge to President Trump." Analysts have also tied high fuel prices to the war the United States and Israel launched against Iran in February, so Ukrainian strikes are not the only pressure on energy markets.

The Oleshky ceasefire ends

The local truce in occupied Oleshky, brokered by first lady Melania Trump, ended on Sunday night. Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the ceasefire ran from Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. Hundreds of residents were reunited with relatives in northern Ukraine over the weekend.

The refinery strikes resumed before that truce ended. Washington's attention is fixed on the midterms, but Kyiv's air defense shortage and Moscow's November export targets are both set against a Russian leadership that still hopes Trump can pressure Kyiv into a deal. Trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. are likely to take place later this month, and Kremlin officials said Putin is willing to talk directly to Zelenskyy by phone. Whether Washington answers the renewed strikes with new pressure on Kyiv, as it did in October, is the open question for those talks.