Ukraine has had enough of Trump’s one-sided truce request.
Michael Sellers has a great Substack. I am a subscriber.
Please consider Zelensky Defies Trump and Resumes Attacks on Russian Oil Refineries
After two weeks of restraint under American pressure, Ukraine has returned to a campaign that is doing serious damage to Russia’s war economy. The decision comes just days before the U.S. midterm elections.
On Friday morning, October 30, Ukrainian drones struck the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region. Images circulating on social media showed enormous columns of smoke rising above the facility.
It was the first Ukrainian attack on a Russian oil refinery in 15 days, and it marked the end of an extraordinary period of restraint by Kyiv. It also came a day after a particularly aggressive series of Russian strikes againdst Ukraine.
Ukraine’s restraint had not been voluntary in any ordinary sense. Ukraine had been under intense pressure from the Trump administration to stop attacking Russian oil infrastructure, even as Moscow continued bombarding Ukrainian cities and systematically destroying the country’s electricity and heating systems.
European allies had reportedly urged Zelensky to avoid further refinery attacks until after Americans voted, hoping to prevent another confrontation between Kyiv and Washington.
Zelensky evidently decided that Ukraine could wait no longer.
The Pressure Campaign
The two-week pause came amid sustained pressure from the Trump administration, which has blamed Ukrainian refinery attacks for contributing to rising global fuel prices and urged Kyiv to suspend them.Most recently, Jared Kushner pressed Zelensky during an October 20 meeting in Oslo to halt refinery strikes for 30 days. Ukraine’s military leadership subsequently exercised restraint, concerned about further damaging relations with Washington.
But Zelensky drew an important distinction between temporarily exercising caution and agreeing to stop the attacks altogether.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, he emphasized that Ukrainian forces had received no standing order prohibiting strikes on Russian refineries.
He had also offered a straightforward reciprocal arrangement: Ukraine would stop attacking Russian oil infrastructure if Moscow stopped attacking Ukraine’s electricity and heating systems.
Russia made no such commitment and continued its bombardment.
Friday’s strike demonstrated that Ukraine was unwilling to extend its restraint indefinitely while Moscow continued attacking Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.
Thursday’s Massacre
The immediate backdrop to Friday’s refinery strike was an especially deadly day of Russian bombardment.On Thursday, October 29, Russian drones and missiles killed at least 27 civilians and injured more than 100 people across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian authorities.
The worst incident occurred in Dnipro, where a Russian jet-powered drone struck a crowded railway platform.
Fifteen people were killed.
Elsewhere, Russian attacks killed civilians in Chernihiv and Kremenchuk, including two teenage girls in Chernihiv.
These attacks occurred while Ukraine was refraining from striking Russian refineries.
That contrast helps explain the decision to resume operations.
That was it. Zelensky had enough.
Trump Chimes In
Well I don’t believe that sanctions work. And who was it that thought they would work on Iran?
Who thought bombs would work on Iran?
Who was it who issued idle threats on Russia for years, always threatening and never doing?
Who is it that trashed allies in favor of Russia?
And who was it who said he would stop this war on day one?
Who is it who is sick of Trump’s lies and bullsh*t?
“In defiance” … ? Have we forgotten to “watch what they do, not what they say”? Nothing any figurehead says means anything, necessarily. Those trump-zelensky spats are a show for public consumption.
Oceania continues its wars, including the one against russia., by supporting its proxy. A war decades in planning.
Ukraine only makes these attacks with CIA guidance and US govt-purchased satellite systems. The Neocon Epstein class wants war. Trump’s mental halitosis is ignorable noise.
Then Trump’s truce efforts are plausible deniability.
Your completely wrong.
Locations of Russian refineries are well known. Ukraine uses commercial drones converted to military use.
I still think that the Ukraine war was a CIA OP to drag Russia into an unwinnable war exactly like their and our fiascos in Afhganistan, and us in Iraq. History is fraught with examples of aggressors losing wars they initially thought were easily winnable. The Op was probably to destroy Putin’s Russia so we could try to install a useful idiot like we did in 1992. The intelligent thing to do would be to let Ukraine do their job and then we do a Marshall Plan to (finally) integrate Russia economically into Europe making China our only competitor and thus have one less enemy to worry about.
Here’s The Enforcer url. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv0Ozz8OJXY
Too late for that. Western politicians are so Russophobic that Russia will never trust them again. Putin is the most prone to trust western leaders (like Charlie Brown kicking the football). Those who follow Putin won’t fall for that. Better for them to align with China.
Trump at the very least is an unwitting Russian asset. I think its worse than that. My bet is Putin has a video of seven Russian whores pissing on Trump while he ‘s doing you know what. Regardless his actions consistently reflect those of a Russian asset. Anyone who can’t see that is even more blind than those who can’t see the incredible benefits of my favorite policy.
Ukraine is kicking Putin’s ass. The truism that when your enemy is getting their ass kicked…don’t do anything to hinder that process.
Who here watches The Enforcer podcast on YouTube. They do an excellent job of covering the Ukraine war.
Putin has the Epstein tapes.
Very possible.