Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says US President Donald Trump told him Kyiv could respond to Russia’s attacks on its energy infrastructure with tit-for-tat strikes, as Ukraine continues to pound Russian refining operations.
“If they attack our energy, President Trump supports that we can answer on energy,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with Axios released on September 25.
He added that Trump had also green-lit retaliatory strikes on Russia’s military factories. However, he suggested they might be harder to reach due to the high level of defense of such facilities.
Zelenskyy’s comments came a couple days after he talked with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23.
The meeting was followed by Trump’s sudden rhetorical shift in which he said Ukraine could restore control over its borders with “time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO.”
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Russia are in BIG economic trouble,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page, suggesting the country’s money problems were one of the main reasons for his newly voiced confidence in Ukraine’s capabilities.
The Kremlin denied the claim on September 24, though it admitted that “yes, Russia is experiencing certain tensions and problem areas in various sectors of the economy.”
As Zelenskyy said he told Trump Ukraine has drones that can reach deep into Russian territory, Kyiv has continued to attack Russian oil refining infrastructure, critical to its war efforts.
The day after the US and Ukrainian leaders met in New York, the Salavat petrochemical complex, one of Russia’s largest, which is located in the Bashkortostan region, was attacked by Ukrainian drones.
Salavat, located about 1,500 kilometers from the front lines in Ukraine, produces 150 types of products, including automotive gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, bitumen, and polyethylene.
Amid the wave of attacks by Ukraine, which were also reported on Russian oil distribution facilities in the Bryansk and Samara regions, Russia has seen growing shortages of some fuel grades due to reduced refining capacity.
RFE/RL’s Crimea.Realities reported that gas stations in Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, were almost completely out of fuel supplies.
In the interview, Zelenskyy further said he asked Trump for additional weapons systems he thinks would pose “additional pressure on Putin to sit and speak.”
Volodymyr Fesenko, a Ukrainian political scientist, told Current Time he sees the sale of offensive US weapons to Ukraine as a strong alternative to possible European and US sanctions on Russia.
“It won’t be free of charge… But it’s a tool that could put pressure on Putin,” Fesenko added.
