Ukrainian drones hit a refinery in Ryazan region, south-east of Moscow, on 15 October. Governor Pavel Malkov and the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed a fire1. The same day Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times "We're done" with the energy ceasefire, and told the broadcaster Piers Morgan that "we are losing a strong partner"2.
The strike picks up a campaign in which Ukraine's Defence Ministry claimed on 4 October to have disabled 51% of Russian refining capacity. Zelenskyy had since offered to halt refinery strikes if Russia stopped hitting Ukraine's grid. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, never accepted the trade: on 13 October he said only that "contacts on this matter continue"3.
Moscow and Kyiv now blame each other for the collapse. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, called Ukraine's oil strikes a "direct and crude challenge to President Trump", and Peskov said Ukraine had never stopped them4. Zelenskyy says Ukraine held off for two days after Trump's announcement5. Neither account has been verified.
Ukraine also fired Neptune missiles, a Ukrainian anti-ship system adapted to hit land targets, at Borisoglebsk air base in Voronezh region during the night before the Ryazan strike6. The Ukrainian General Staff said all six Su-34M fighter-bombers suffered "damage of varying degrees". Satellite imagery from 15 October, verified by Reuters, shows destruction at the airfield, but Reuters could not verify the aircraft claim7. The Su-34 is a main Russian carrier of guided glide bombs, the weapon that killed 23 people in a Zaporizhzhia apartment block on 10 October.
