Ukraine keeps hitting Russian refineries as Trump blames them for diesel spike

Ukraine is pressing ahead with long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries, rejecting pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who has blamed the campaign for worsening a global diesel squeeze and lifting American fuel prices ahead of November's midterm elections.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had hit an oil facility in Russia's southern Samara region overnight, as well as a Russian vessel in the Black Sea and a launch-and-storage site for attack drones in the Oryol region, The Guardian reported.

Trump's warning, analysts' caveat

Trump has privately urged Mr. Zelenskyy to stop hitting Russian refineries and said publicly that diesel is "hurt much more" by damage to Russian plants than by Middle East disruption. U.S. diesel prices have hit record highs in recent weeks, feeding cost-of-living anger that has dragged his approval ratings down.

Energy analysts quoted by The Guardian still point to the war in Iran and wider oil-market disruption as the main drivers, with Ukraine's strikes an additional headache rather than the sole cause. Even so, Ukrainian estimates claim more than 45% of Russia's refining capacity has been knocked out in recent months, prompting rationing and long queues in some Russian regions. Moscow, traditionally the world's second-largest diesel exporter, has extended its diesel export ban to the end of October.

No unilateral pause in Kyiv

Mykola Bielieskov of Ukraine's National Institute for Strategic Studies said there was "no rationale" for Kyiv to restrain itself while Russian bombs fall on Ukrainian cities. "We need to deprive Russia of revenue," he said. Mr. Zelenskyy has sought a U.S.-brokered energy ceasefire; Russia has shown little interest and vowed to intensify its own strikes.

Those strikes continue to hit Ukrainian energy sites, warehouses and, on Thursday, a Kyiv school — empty of children who were sheltering in the basement, mayor Vitali Klitschko said — and a key bridge that forced the suspension of metro and other transport. Jet-powered drones are proving harder to intercept than slower Shahed-type craft, raising fears of another winter of blackouts.

For India, which still buys discounted Russian crude while navigating Western pressure, the story is less about battlefield drama than about diesel and ATF prices already visible at home. Refinery outages in Russia and export bans tighten global middle-distillate markets — the same markets that feed commercial LPG debates and airline fuel bills reported in India on Thursday.