The EU’s High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, has defended Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries as a legitimate means of ending Russia’s war of aggression, saying the quickest way to stop them is to end the war.
“If we look at international law, it is clear that [hitting refineries] is in defence of Ukraine because that is where the funding comes from for this war to kill Ukrainian people every day,” she told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
The remarks come after US President Donald Trump announced a deal for Russia to supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel amid a global energy crunch, followed by an “energy ceasefire” under which Russia and Ukraine would stop targeting each other’s energy infrastructure.
“If we look at the big picture, the majority of the financing for this war comes from oil. And that is why Ukraine is also targeting them [the refineries], while Russia is targeting the energy infrastructure inside Ukraine, to cause as much suffering for the Ukrainian people in the upcoming winter,” she said.
Kallas stressed, however, that the war has a clear aggressor and a victim, and that the US should join Europeans in pressuring Russia rather than Ukraine, since the EU will continue to support Kyiv, which has not surrendered.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv will resume strikes on Russian oil refineries, accusing Washington of suspending intelligence-sharing and disrupting Starlink satellite internet services amid intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine.
“The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We’re done,” Zelenskyy told the Financial Times in an interview published just hours before the EU summit.
Ukraine has significantly intensified its campaign against Russian oil infrastructure, striking 12 major refineries in September alone, according to Ukraine’s Defence Ministry.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), only five of Russia’s 32 major refineries had escaped Ukrainian drone attacks by late August, with some facilities struck as many as 15 times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine had halted strikes on Russian energy facilities for three days at Washington’s request, while Moscow continued attacking Ukrainian infrastructure and killing civilians.
According to Zelenskyy, US officials also warned their Ukrainian counterparts that intelligence-sharing would be suspended unless Kyiv stopped its strikes, although the subsequent disruption was presented as a technical problem.
He also rejected suggestions that interruptions to Starlink services were accidental.
“It was not a technical problem, it was the will,” Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, responded with thinly veiled sarcasm, effectively suggesting that no energy ceasefire was yet in place.
“What was announced? What are the boundaries of the energy ceasefire? What does it mean? Was any of this specified?” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov asked on Wednesday.
“That is why work in this direction is continuing,” he added.