Russia threatens more strikes after Zelensky vows to hit oil refineries

The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday threatened to hit Ukrainian military and industrial facilities, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his military would target Russia’s oil refineries.

“Strikes by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation against military and military-industrial facilities, as well as related infrastructure in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine, will be intensified,” the defense ministry wrote on Telegram, as reported by Politico .

“The people of Ukraine should blame only the head of the Kyiv regime for this,” the ministry added, referring to Zelensky. “It is [Zelensky] who bears full personal and political responsibility for this.”

Zelensky told Reuters on Saturday his armed forces will continue to target Russian oil refineries in response to the invading country’s wave of airstrikes.

The Ukrainian president added his intelligence services have obtained documents showing that Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued guidance for his military to broaden its attacks on civilian targets ahead of the winter.

“We saw documents ‌and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals,” Zelensky told Reuters. “To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation.”

While President Trump has enlisted special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to broker peace between Putin and Zelensky, the two have so far failed to do so.

Last month, Zelensky said Trump greenlit Ukraine building Patriot missiles. The Ukrainian leader, whose country is in its fifth year of its war against Russia, has repeatedly asked his American counterpart for authorization to construct the missiles to protect itself against Kremlin missile and drone strikes.

Russian strikes killed more Ukrainian civilians over the first eight months of this year than all of last year, according to the United Nations (U.N.). Last month, Russian attacks killed at least 372 Ukrainian civilians and injured at least 2,349, the U.N. reported.