The Wall Street Journal reports a likely pause in Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries — Daily Maverick

Ukraine has likely suspended its long-range strikes on oil refineries in Russia, the aggressor state, following pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump. This was reported by Daily Maverick, which published a Reuters report citing The Wall Street Journal.

The campaign was put on pause

According to the WSJ, citing people familiar with the conduct of the operations, Ukrainian units carrying out long-range strikes were informed in mid-October about the effective suspension of the campaign against oil refineries. The decision was to take effect after missions that had already begun were completed.

The informal pause, according to the newspaper, may last at least until the conclusion of the U.S. midterm elections and possibly longer — in November. Reuters noted that it was unable to independently verify the report.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Pressure and negotiations

The news came amid renewed efforts to resume U.S.-backed peace negotiations aimed at ending Russia's war against Ukraine. At the same time, according to the report, Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure.

Reuters also noted that relations between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. The WSJ writes that Trump has increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure amid record diesel fuel prices.

Ukraine had previously refused to halt the strikes, stating that the campaign using long-range drones was its only real response to years of Russian bombardment. According to Reuters, Trump subsequently announced an agreement to purchase diesel fuel from Moscow and to lift sanctions provided for by a law he signed in September.