Zelenskyy Says Ukraine Struck Russia's Yaroslavl Refinery
The claim comes hours after Trump said Ukraine had agreed to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure
Published
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine attacked the Yaroslavl refinery in Russia. The announcement came hours after President Trump said Ukraine had agreed to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure as part of a broader energy truce.
The strike contradicts that claimed agreement. It suggests either the truce was never firmly in place or that Ukraine is signaling it will not comply, leaving open the question of whether a deal on energy targets exists at all.
The Kremlin has shown interest in an energy truce. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, has called Trump's idea for one good, and Russian officials have said lifting sanctions would bring down world energy prices, amid diplomatic contacts with Washington. Russia nonetheless extended its diesel export ban to October on Wednesday, according to Vedomosti, even as both sides traded signals over a possible truce.
The backdrop is a tight market. On Tuesday, VLCC tanker rates passed $1 million a day for the first time, Brent's physical spot price traded above $135 a barrel, and the six-month calendar spread widened past $20. Ukraine's strike keeps that tightness in place, and with it the uncertainty hanging over the war's trajectory and over diesel prices that remain elevated.