Kallas Backs Ukraine's Refinery Strikes as US Pushes Pause

Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, told Euronews that Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries amount to legitimate self-defence under international law. Her statement comes at an awkward moment: Washington has just announced an "energy ceasefire" and a diesel deal with Moscow, while Brussels is publicly taking the opposite line.

"If we look at international law, it is clear that [hitting refineries] is in defence of Ukraine because that is where the funding comes from for this war to kill Ukrainian people every day," Kallas said in an exclusive interview. She said oil provides most of the money for Russia's war and argued that the quickest way to stop the strikes is to end the war itself.

A Transatlantic Split on Pressure

Kallas spoke after US President Donald Trump announced a deal for Russia to supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel amid a global energy crunch. The announcement also included an "energy ceasefire," under which Russia and Ukraine would stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure.

Kallas didn't hide who she believes should face pressure. The war has a clear aggressor and a clear victim, she said, and the United States should join Europeans in leaning on Russia, not Ukraine. The EU, she added, will keep supporting Kyiv, which hasn't surrendered.

The timing matters for European defence planning. Brussels faces pressure to carry more political weight in backing Ukraine just as its main security partner is reportedly urging Kyiv to show restraint. Member state treasuries already fund much of Ukraine's resilience, and the prospect of further cuts to US support is no longer theoretical.

Kyiv Says the Block Is Off

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would resume strikes on Russian oil refineries. He accused Washington of suspending intelligence-sharing and disrupting Starlink satellite internet services as Russian attacks on Ukraine intensified. "The block (on attacking refineries) is out. We're done," Zelenskyy told the Financial Times in an interview published hours before the EU summit.

He confirmed that Ukraine had halted strikes on Russian energy facilities for three days at Washington's request, even as Moscow continued attacking Ukrainian infrastructure and killing civilians. Zelenskyy said US officials warned their Ukrainian counterparts that intelligence-sharing would stop unless Kyiv halted its strikes. Officials presented the subsequent disruption as a technical problem. He rejected that explanation. "It was not a technical problem, it was the will," he said.

The Scale of the Campaign

The figures point to a sustained campaign. Ukraine's Defence Ministry said Ukraine struck 12 major Russian refineries in September. By late August, only five of Russia's 32 major refineries had escaped Ukrainian drone attacks, according to the International Energy Agency. Some facilities had taken as many as 15 strikes since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, four years ago.

Kallas said the two sides' aims differ in moral terms, even if both target energy sites. Ukraine strikes refineries that fund the war, she said, while Russia targets Ukrainian energy infrastructure "to cause as much suffering for the Ukrainian people in the upcoming winter."

Moscow's Response

The Kremlin responded with sarcasm, suggesting no energy ceasefire had taken effect. "What was announced? What are the boundaries of the energy ceasefire? What does it mean? Was any of this specified?" Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov asked on Wednesday. "That is why work in this direction is continuing," he added.

Why This Matters:

The dispute shows how much Europe's Ukraine policy still depends on decisions made in Washington. If the US can switch off intelligence-sharing or Starlink access to pressure Kyiv, European governments face a hard question: can they sustain Ukraine's defence alone, and what will that cost national budgets? Kallas says the EU will keep backing Kyiv, committing member states to a long fiscal and political obligation. For taxpayers and parliaments, that means making burden-sharing clearer, investing faster in European defence capacity and relying less on a single ally. That's a perspective, not a verdict. The winter ahead will test how far Europe can act without American cover.