Ukraine strikes Russian refinery as Zelenskyy blasts Trump — SkimNews
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- Ukraine attacked a Russian oil refinery roughly 300 km southeast of Moscow in Ryazan on October 16, 2026, starting a fire that the Russian Defense Ministry and Gov. Pavel Malkov confirmed, abandoning a brief energy truce Kyiv said Moscow never honored.
- Zelenskyy told the Financial Times and Piers Morgan that Ukraine was "done" waiting, citing restricted use of U.S.-made Starlink terminals, the withholding of Western intelligence on Russian ballistic missile strikes, and Trump's deal with Putin to import Russian diesel.
- Trump told Newsmax that "Zelenskyy is not a good guy for us to deal with," said he found Zelenskyy "more difficult to deal with than Putin," and suggested Ukraine hold an election to replace him; the U.S. president also criticized the renewed attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
- Elon Musk noted on X that Starshield — the military version of Starlink — is controlled by the U.S. military and Trump, while a Ukrainian official said neither SpaceX nor the Pentagon has explained the service slowdown.
- Russia launched more than 850 drones at Ukraine between midnight and Thursday morning, hitting 15 regions; Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 536, with impacts recorded at 31 locations, and three people were killed in a 10-hour drone attack on the Kirovohrad region.
- Zelenskyy flew to Brussels for EU summit talks with Macron, NATO's Mark Rutte, and the prime ministers of Poland, Denmark, and Belgium after securing fresh pledges from U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham in London a day earlier.
- EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said "Squeezing Ukraine is not the right approach," making clear the bloc sees itself standing with Kyiv against U.S. pressure to settle.
Why it matters: With Ukraine losing intelligence sharing and Starlink access while Russia fired 850+ drones overnight at 15 regions, the U.S. has shifted from arms supplier to perceived mediator on Moscow's terms — and Zelenskyy's European pivot to Brussels and London signals the alliance is now doing the heavy lifting on Ukraine's survival.
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