Trump calls Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a 'disgrace'

During the interview, the host reminded Trump that Ukraine had resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries, despite his earlier calls for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop the strikes.

“Now, if you tell me that Zelenskyy is again shooting at refineries, all he's doing is making the world oil price higher,” the US president said.

He added that Ukraine allegedly had plenty of other targets to attack and did not necessarily need to strike oil refineries.

“Well, I think that's a disgrace. There's plenty of other targets. ... There are a lot of targets that you can hit,” the American president said.

Trump also emphasized that Ukrainian attacks were damaging Russia's diesel fuel production, which he said was needed by the United States and other countries.

“When you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil and we need that, and the world needs that, then he's not doing a good service for the world,” the White House chief said.

Why Trump opposes strikes on Russian oil refineries

Trump wants to bring down energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections to Congress, scheduled for November 3.

In this context, the American president announced an agreement with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on supplies of Russian diesel fuel.

Zelenskyy criticized the arrangement, saying that easing restrictions on Russian fuel would help finance Russia's war against Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian president, after the announcement of the so-called energy truce, Kyiv suspended strikes on Russian oil refineries for three days. Russia, however, continued attacking Ukrainian energy facilities.

The Kremlin acknowledged that the specific terms of the truce had not been fully defined.

Ultimately, in an interview with the Financial Times, Zelenskyy said Ukraine's Defense Forces would resume attacks on Russian oil refineries.

The Ukrainian president stressed that the ban had been lifted and Ukraine had had enough.