Ukraine ends its refinery pause and hits Ryazan as Russia sends 580 drones and Kirovohrad takes its largest attack of the war

The short energy pause in the Ukraine war is over, and both sides marked the end of it in the same night.

Ukrainian drones struck a refinery in Russia's Ryazan region, about 300 kilometres southeast of Moscow, early on Thursday and started a fire there, according to Russia's Defence Ministry and the regional governor. A senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Ukraine had hit the refinery. Hours earlier President Volodymyr Zelensky had told the Financial Times the block on attacking refineries was out and Ukraine was done pausing. Kyiv says it held its fire on Russian energy targets for two to three days after President Trump announced an energy ceasefire on Sunday, a ceasefire Moscow never publicly confirmed, and resumed after Russia kept hitting Ukrainian energy sites.

Russia's overnight answer was scale. Ukraine's air force said 580 Russian drones attacked the country overnight, of which 536 were shot down. The central region of Kirovohrad, a comparatively infrequent target, took more than 360 drones in what Governor Andriy Raikovych called the largest attack on its territory during the war. He said 26 locations were hit, including critical infrastructure, transport firms, logistics sites and homes, and that three people were killed and six wounded, as of Thursday.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries run counter to American peace efforts. Zelensky, for his part, tied the resumption to two grievances he has raised for two nights running: Ukraine received no advance warning from partners of Russian ballistic launches, and the military grade Starlink service its drones rely on was restricted at high speed without warning, disrupting missions. Former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said service supporting speeds up to 160 kilometres per hour was being restored. Zelensky said he would agree to halt energy strikes again only in return for more American Patriot interceptors, which he called the minimum acceptable.

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