After Zelensky said attacks would resume, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the oil refinery

Ukraine's president says shutdown on attacked energy sites is over after new Russian strikes.

By Maya Davies and Sarah Rainsford, Southern and Eastern Europe Correspondent

Russia accused Ukraine of attacking an oil refinery on Thursday after President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes, which had been halted at the request of the United States, would resume.

Zelensky said that while Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, it has limited the attacks to three days. "We're done," he told the Financial Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Kiev had also tried to hit the refineries on Wednesday - which Ukraine denied - but had not caused "significant damage".

Zelensky also accused the US of pulling back on intelligence sharing to pressure Kiev to end the attacks, but Ukrainian defense sources later told the BBC that some Starlink satellite service operations had resumed.

They said "Operations on the Move," part of StarShield's Starlink military service, has been restored, although it is not yet clear whether restrictions on the drones' speeds while still maintaining Starlink Internet connectivity have been fully lifted.

Officials were still working to clarify the "reasons and circumstances" behind the move, the sources added.

In a separate incident, seven people are missing after a drone attack set a chemical tanker on fire in Romania, Romanian navy officials said. Moscow said it had shot down two cargo ships with military cargo bound for the Ukrainian port of Odessa, without naming them.

Why is Starlink Internet so important on the battlefield in Ukraine?

Eight crew members have disappeared after a drone strike left the oil tanker on fire off the coast of Romania

The Kremlin said Kiev had "attempted a massive attack" on a refinery south of Moscow earlier Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Russia, four missiles and dozens of interception drones and falling debris caused a fire at the Ryazan site.

Zelensky said dozens of Ukrainian cities have been attacked by Russia in the past day.

He previously said he would agree to the "energy ceasefire" announced by US President Donald Trump on Sunday if Moscow sticks to it.

But he accused Russia of ignoring the proposed deal within hours of its announcement, leaving hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians without electricity. The Kremlin never said it agreed to the deal.

Asked by Pierre Morgan on Wednesday night, Zelensky admitted he had been betrayed by the United States after Washington withdrew key elements of its support.

European leaders gathered around the president of Ukraine. Guido Crosto, Italy's defense minister, told the BBC that limiting US intelligence sharing with Kiev would be a "complete mistake".

Because this is a basic form of support.

He added: "Peace will come when Putin is convinced that there is a stalemate... that he cannot advance. But if he sees a weak spot on the Ukrainian front, if the United States withdraws his resources, Putin thinks he can win and therefore will continue the war."

Zelenskiy met with NATO chief Mark Rutte as the two-day summit of European leaders began in Brussels on Thursday. The head of the military alliance said they discussed "the importance of implementing the energy ceasefire, as well as NATO allies' continued support for Ukraine."

Zelensky told the FT that US counterparts had told Ukrainian officials that "if you don't stop [the attacks], we will block information".

Ukraine's military relies on early US warnings of Russian airstrikes to deploy air defenses, limiting successful attacks, while Starlink internet links are used throughout its war effort to guide drones and protect its skies.

There were suggestions that a technical fault was to blame for the sudden restrictions on Starlink on Tuesday evening, but owner Elon Musk appeared to deny that, suggesting it was the work of the Trump administration.

"It wasn't a technical problem, it was a will," Zelensky told the FT.

Trump has denied stopping information sharing. Starlink StarShield's sister service is provided to Ukraine under a US Department of Defense contract. The BBC has contacted US officials for comment.

Zelensky spoke to the FT during a trip to London on Wednesday, which also included a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Downing Street - who announced that Britain would speed up the delivery of lightweight multi-purpose missiles to Kiev.

Ukraine's president told the newspaper that he would now halt attacks on Russian oil infrastructure — which Kiev says is critical to cutting off revenue streams for its war machine — if the United States supplies more Patriot air defense missiles.

Ukraine has been suffering from a shortage of American-made defense equipment since the start of the war with Iran, which consumed its reserves.

In a more defiant tone than recently, the Ukrainian president told the newspaper that his American counterpart favors autocratic leaders like Putin.

He said that it is not up to him to fix US-Ukraine relations in light of last week's events: "We did not destroy any relations."

There were already tensions between the two leaders. After returning to the White House last year, the pair shared a fiery Oval Office meeting in which Trump hinted at Zelensky as a major obstacle to a peace deal.

Zelensky has since walked a fine diplomatic line, showing his willingness to deal with U.S. brokers while insisting that the terms of any peace deal must be fair.

But he criticized the agreement between Russia and the United States to supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and world markets, reached last week, as the U.S. effectively invests in Russia's war effort.

The agreement was Trump's latest attempt to lower fuel prices in the United States ahead of the midterm elections after months of grappling with the political fallout from the Iran war, which has caused fuel costs to skyrocket.

"The question will be: when will the next deal be? Maybe it will be gas. It will definitely be gas," Zelensky told the FT.

As Russia continued to attack Ukraine, Zelensky suggested that the disruption in US support was no accident.

Local authorities reported that at least 13 people were killed across Ukraine on Wednesday in what Zelensky called a "sustained and widespread" Russian offensive. He said that more than 850 drones have been launched in dozens of cities and neighborhoods.

At least three people were killed in the central region of Kirovohrad as it suffered its biggest attack since Russia began a massive offensive in 2022, with nearly 360 drones launched during a 10-hour barrage, officials there said. Losses were also reported in Donetsk, Kherson and Volyn.

Zelensky wrote on social networks: "It is clear that Russia has deliberately escalated these attacks, abused the reduction of sanctions, and has seen attempts to put pressure on Ukraine."