Trump Calls Ukraine's Renewed Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries 'a Disgrace'

US President Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries, calling the attacks "a disgrace" and saying that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "more difficult to deal with than Putin" after an "energy ceasefire" collapsed, according to The Guardian.

The comments mark a sharp escalation in Trump's public posture toward Kyiv, placing the blame for the breakdown of the energy truce on Ukraine's leadership rather than on Russia. The "energy ceasefire" — an arrangement intended to halt attacks on energy infrastructure — has now collapsed, with Ukraine resuming strikes on Russian oil refineries.

The remarks carry significant market implications. Russian oil refineries are a critical link in global crude and refined product supply chains, and renewed strikes raise the prospect of disruptions to Russian refining capacity and export flows. Any sustained damage to refining infrastructure can tighten global product markets, particularly for diesel and other distillates, and add a geopolitical risk premium to crude prices.

Trump's characterisation of Zelenskyy as the more difficult counterparty also introduces fresh uncertainty over the durability of US support for Ukraine and the prospects for any renewed diplomatic framework to restore the energy truce. For investors, the collapse of the arrangement removes a constraint that had previously limited attacks on energy infrastructure, reintroducing a source of supply-side volatility into oil markets.

The immediate focus will be on whether the strikes persist and whether refining outages materialise, both of which would shape the near-term risk premium embedded in energy prices.