KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine has restarted drone attacks on Russian oil refineries after a three-day pause, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy grew angrier over Russian strikes on his power grid and new limits on the Starlink satellite service his forces rely on.
Kyiv had held off after President Donald Trump announced on Sunday what he called an energy ceasefire between the two countries, a declaration that appeared to catch both sides off guard. Ukraine says Russia kept hitting its energy system anyway. Hours after Zelenskyy signaled the pause was over, a fire broke out at a refinery in Russia’s Ryazan region, according to regional Gov. Pavel Malkov.
The dispute over Starlink began Wednesday, when Zelenskyy adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said SpaceX had imposed an overnight speed cap of about 100 mph on terminals without telling Ukraine. Defense ministry sources said any asset moving faster than that drops its connection, hampering interceptor and mid-range strike drones as well as front-line logistics and reconnaissance.
Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX, wrote that decisions on limiting Starshield, the military version of the service, rest with the U.S. military and ultimately Trump. A Ukrainian defense ministry source said Thursday that the military service was being restored.
Russian missile and drone attacks overnight into Wednesday left at least 600,000 people without power, Zelenskyy said, with energy sites hit around Kyiv and in Kharkiv. Officials said three people died in the capital, and at least six more were killed later in a drone strike on a warehouse in Lutsk.
Zelenskyy has also said Washington threatened to curb intelligence sharing if he did not accept the energy truce, a claim Trump denied on Tuesday. Russia holds roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory more than four years after its full-scale invasion.
