Iryna Panina, 36, was jolted awake in Kyiv by what she described as the sound of an aircraft falling, then a huge blast. Her windows blew out and furniture slid across the floor when a drone hit the five-storey building next door. The first floor caught fire, two people were hurt, and every resident was evacuated.
That was Tuesday morning, hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. The talk there was of an energy ceasefire. The night had gone the other way.
Refineries and a ruined gas facility
Overnight Ukraine hit two Russian refineries: one in the Samara region, about 500 kilometres southeast of Moscow, the other in Ufa, more than 1,100 kilometres from the capital. Those strikes followed what Moscow’s mayor called Ukraine’s largest drone attack yet on the city. Over the weekend, Kyiv sent more than 400 drones at a refinery there.
Russia answered with ballistic missiles at southern Ukraine. One target was a Naftogaz energy facility in the Poltava region. Naftogaz said at least five missiles struck it. The site was already shut down, but the company said the damage means it can never be restored.
Naftogaz also runs the Ukrnafta chain of petrol stations, and some are being fortified with barriers. Russian drones have already hit several, including one in Boryspil on August 20. Valentyn Krasnopir, 63, took shrapnel in the leg while sheltering behind a station during an alert. “There was an alert, and we went with the others behind the petrol station and then there was an explosion in the air,” he told CBC News from a hospital bed.
What the numbers say about Russian fuel
The International Energy Agency reports Russian gasoline output down 20 per cent from 2025 and diesel production down nearly 30 per cent. Of Russia’s 32 major refineries, some have been attacked as many as 15 times since the full-scale invasion in 2022. In the first eight months of 2026, a Russian refinery was hit on average once every three days. Moscow has banned diesel exports and started importing fuel, including from India. Videos on social media show shortages at pumps and, at times, fistfights.
Talks, and little faith in them
Zelenskyy said the two presidents met for 40 minutes and discussed ending the four-year-old war and a possible bilateral truce on energy targets. Kyiv, he said, is ready for any format, but there was no discussion of Ukraine unilaterally ending its attacks on Russian refineries. Trump had raised soaring diesel prices several times in a phone call on Sunday. Zelenskyy added that any deal must protect Ukraine’s food exports and critical infrastructure, not just energy sites. The Kremlin has said it is open to a moratorium but wants Western sanctions lifted. Last week Trump said both sides had agreed to an energy ceasefire; strikes carried on.
“I don’t really believe in it, I don’t, because there are rockets flying,” said Mykola Nechyporenko, 55, an energy worker repairing cable in Kyiv ahead of winter. Panina was just as tired: “It’s like a neverending story.” Russian jet-powered drones are adding to the strain, since some Ukrainian systems struggle to intercept them.
