Ukraine's military temporarily halted strikes on Russian oil refineries in October following pressure from Washington, according to people familiar with the decision. According to those sources, the unofficial pause began amid concerns in Kyiv that it could lose US support.
The sources linked the pressure to US President Donald Trump's dissatisfaction with Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure. They said the pause was expected to last at least until the US midterm elections, although no formal public agreement set its duration. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not confirmed the existence of any formal ban on such operations.
According to the Journal, US envoy Jared Kushner reiterated the demand to halt refinery strikes during an October 20 meeting with Zelenskyy in Oslo. The discussions came amid a broader crisis in US-Ukrainian relations, including interruptions to Starlink satellite service. US officials denied that restoring the service was conditional on Ukraine pausing refinery attacks.