Russia Strikes Ukrainian Oil Refinery in Fresh Blow to Kyiv’s Energy Infrastructure

Russian forces have struck a key oil refinery in central Ukraine, according to both Moscow’s Ministry of Defence and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“The Russian Armed Forces launched a massed high-precision strike by long-range air- and sea-based weapons and strike unmanned aerial vehicles on an oil refinery in Kremenchuk,” Russia’s defense ministry said in a June 15 statement.

Kremenchuk is an industrial city located in Ukraine’s central region of Poltava.

The ministry claimed that the targeted oil refinery supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces operating in the eastern Donbas region.

“The goal of the strikes has been achieved,” the ministry stated. “The target has been engaged.”

Zelenskyy later confirmed—and condemned—the strikes in a June 15 video address.

“Unfortunately, there was damage to [Ukrainian] energy infrastructure,” he said. “This is Russia’s [effort to] spit on everything that the international community is trying to do to stop this war,” Zelenskyy added, claiming the strike had occurred “after the Americans asked us not to strike at Russian energy facilities.”

In a separate statement on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy said that Russia was planning “further attacks on our energy sector … that may be less visible to the world right now because all eyes are on the situation in the Middle East.”

In 2022, Russia invaded and effectively annexed broad swaths of eastern and southeastern Ukraine, including Donbas, which is comprised of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In recent months, Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other’s critical energy infrastructure—including oil refineries—despite U.S. efforts to secure a cease-fire.

Both Sides Claim Battlefield Gains

Denis Pushilin, head of the Moscow-recognized Donetsk People’s Republic, said Russian forces were close to “liberating” the city of Pokrovsk (Krasnoarmeysk in Russian) following gains in Ukraine’s neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

“We observe multiple points of access opening up into the Dnepropetrovsk Region, which allow us to strategically leverage our advances and move decisively toward liberating Krasnoarmeysk [Pokrovsk],” Pushilin said in remarks cited by Russia’s TASS news agency.

A key Ukrainian transit hub in Donetsk, Pokrovsk sits at the junction of several supply routes linking it to other important cities and towns in the region.

Russian forces have largely surrounded Pokrovsk from the east and the south, but the city—from which most residents have fled—remains in Ukrainian hands.

On June 14, Russia’s defense ministry claimed its forces had captured the village of Zelenyi Kut to the southwest of Pokrovsk.

In remarks delivered the same day, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had carried out successful actions near Pokrovsk, without providing additional details.

He also claimed his forces had retaken the village of Andriivka in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, where Russian forces seek to create a “buffer zone” to prevent cross-border attacks into Russian territory.

“Based on recent developments, our special thanks go to the soldiers of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, for offensive operations in the Sumy region and the liberation, in particular, of Andriivka,” Zelenskyy said in a video address.

Moscow has yet to confirm, or acknowledge, Zelenskyy’s assertion regarding Andriivka’s alleged recapture by Ukrainian forces.

According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia has amassed roughly 53,000 troops in the Sumy region, which shares a 350-mile-long border with Russia’s western Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions.

The Epoch Times could not independently verify claims made by either side of the conflict, which entered its fourth year in February.

Reuters contributed to this report.