Politico: US urges Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries

The US has pressed Ukraine to halt drone strikes on Russian energy facilities, fearing that it could provoke massive retaliation and drive up global oil prices.

In recent months, Kyiv has ramped up its strikes against Russian energy infrastructure, hitting several oil refineries across multiple regions, causing financial damage to the Kremlin, which still trades oil and gas despite sanctions, Politico reports.

Now Washington has urged officials in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) to put a stop to these attacks, the Financial Times reported Friday, citing three unnamed sources.

The US is concerned that targeting Russia’s energy facilities will impact the Kremlin’s oil production capacity and drive up global prices — ahead of a knife-edge presidential election where prices at the gas pump are bound to be a contentious topic.

The sources also fear that these repeated strikes will provoke Russia into retaliating and targeting energy infrastructure the West relies on, including oil pipelines.

A spokesperson for the SBU declined to comment to POLITICO, while officials at GUR and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment. 

According to Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna, Ukrainian officials have said that oil refineries are “absolutely legitimate targets from a military point of view.”

“We understand the calls of our American partners,” she said at the Kyiv Security Forum, Ukrainska Pravda reported. “At the same time, we are fighting with the capabilities, resources and practices that we have.”

Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s energy facilities throughout 2023 and into the new year, including a massive barrage Friday which left several cities without electricity and damaged the Dnipro hydropower plant.