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Trump Condemns Ukraine’s Russian Refinery Strikes as a “Disgrace”
Ukraine’s renewed attacks on Russian refineries are a “disgrace” and will only lead to higher prices, President Donald Trump has said in comments about the latest Ukrainian attack of a Rosneft facility in Ryazan.
“All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” Trump told Newsmax in an interview. “There are a lot of targets you can hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he’s not doing a good service for the world,” the U.S. president added, also telling Newsmax he was “not a fan” of the Ukrainian president and that “They've destroyed that country,” in what appears to be a deepening rift between the Ukrainian president and the biggest donor to his war effort.
Earlier in the week, the Ukrainian forces paused attacks on refineries after President Trump announced a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow on Sunday. Neither side confirmed it had agreed to the ceasefire and, sure enough, Russian forces continued striking targets in Ukraine. On Thursday, President Zelensky told the Financial Times in an interview, “The block is out. We’re done,” and soon after the Ryazan refinery, owned by Rosneft, got struck with a drone attack. The facility accounts for 5% of Russia’s total national refinery throughput.
The restart of refinery attacks will no doubt worsen an already problematic global fuel supply problem that is especially marked in diesel. For that to change, both wars would need to end; it is becoming increasingly obvious.
However, asked about the peace prospects between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said, “It should end soon. I think they actually both would like to see it end,” but “ I think I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
