{"id":641,"date":"2026-04-18T21:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jakony.com\/frontpage\/?p=641"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:55:02","slug":"budanov-zelenskyy-rejected-partner-demands-to-spare-russian-oil-refineries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jakony.com\/frontpage\/video\/budanov-zelenskyy-rejected-partner-demands-to-spare-russian-oil-refineries\/","title":{"rendered":"Budanov: Zelenskyy Rejected Partner Demands to Spare Russian Oil Refineries"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TUAPSE, KRASNODAR KRAI)<\/strong> \u2013 A plume of black smoke visible from space stretched over one hundred kilometres out to sea on the morning of 16 April, marking the latest successful Ukrainian deep strike against Russia’s oil export infrastructure. The Tuapse Oil Refinery, a Rosneft facility ranking among the ten largest in Russia with an annual processing capacity of 12 million tons, was set ablaze by drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine’s Alpha special operations centre.<\/p>\n

NASA published satellite imagery confirming the scale of the fire, which burned through the day and spread to neighbouring reservoirs. Ukraine’s General Staff confirmed the strike. The OSINT project CyberBoroshno reported the fire had intensified. OSINTtechnical posted the satellite footage. The port of Tuapse handles up to ten percent of Russia’s total petroleum product exports.<\/p>\n

According to a source in the Security Service speaking to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, the strike damaged deepwater loading stands, pipeline systems and the tank farm at both the sea terminal and the refinery itself. A multifunctional 50N6E radar station, part of Russia’s air defence network, was also destroyed. The Kyiv Independent reported that three fuel storage tanks were initially ignited with fires spreading to additional reservoirs as the day progressed. United 24 media cited OSINT analysis from XL Nova Plus and Astra confirming the scale of the damage.<\/p>\n

The Moscow Times reported that Russia’s investigative committee launched a criminal probe into what it termed terrorism. The General Staff emphasised that the refinery is not merely an economic asset but is, in its words, actively involved in supplying the Russian occupation army, producing gasoline, diesel, fuel oil and petrochemical feed stocks that flow directly to the war machine.<\/p>\n

This strike was not an isolated incident. Commander in Chief Syrskyi reported on 15 April that Ukraine struck seventy six Russian industrial targets in March alone, including fifteen oil refineries. In the first ten days of April, Ukrainian forces hit refineries in Bashkortostan, one thousand two hundred kilometres from the border, and in Nizhny Novgorod. On 18 April, RBC Ukraine confirmed that Ukraine had hit four more oil facilities in a single night: the Novokuibyshevsk and Syzran refineries in Samara, the Vysotsk Lukoil terminal in the Leningrad region and the Taritk oil pumping station in Krasnodar. President Zelenskyy stated plainly, “Today, our deep strikes are no longer a sensation.”<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian campaign against Russian oil proceeds despite confirmed requests from foreign allies to pause such operations. On 04 April, Bloomberg published an interview with Kyrylo Budanov, head of the presidential office and former chief of military intelligence, in which he confirmed that Ukraine’s foreign allies had asked Kyiv to pause strikes on Russian oil refineries.<\/p>\n

“I will answer this diplomatically,” Budanov said. “We are receiving some signals regarding this.” On 09 April, asked again at a meeting with the religious community as reported by Ukrinform and Charter 97, Budanov confirmed the requests had existed in various forms since 2022. “Their truth is their truth, but we also have our own truth and our national interest. We are not stopping.” When pressed whether Ukraine would stop the strikes, his answer was one word: “No.”<\/p>\n

President Zelenskyy addressed the matter directly during the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. “Our partners sent different messages to various countries. Some were asked to increase production, others to increase transit capacity. And we were asked to reduce our strikes on the country that is invading us so that the country invading us can sell more oil to finance the invasion. This request makes no strategic, political or moral sense. Honestly, it is not a request that a real partner would ever make.”<\/p>\n

The strategic context is defined by Washington’s sanctions policy. In November 2025, the Trump administration imposed new sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies. In January and February 2026, Russian oil revenues fell forty seven percent, as reported by EA Worldview. The sanctions, combined with Ukraine’s kinetic strikes, were bleeding Russia’s budget. On 28 February, the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Oil prices spiked and the Strait of Hormuz closed.<\/p>\n

Within days, the Treasury Department issued General License 134, a thirty day waiver allowing countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil already loaded onto vessels. The original waiver covered cargoes loaded by 12 March and was due to expire on 11 April. Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev celebrated publicly, saying the waiver would free one hundred million barrels of crude. Russia’s oil export revenues, which had been at a post invasion low of 9.75 billion dollars in February, surged to 19 billion dollars in March, according to the International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday 16 April, the same day Ukraine hit Tuapse, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the waiver would not be renewed. However, on Friday the Treasury renewed it anyway. A new waiver covering Russian oil loaded by 16 April, valid through to 16 May, provides another full month of potential revenue injection to the Russian war machine. The Spokesman Review reported that lawmakers from both parties slammed the decision. The Council on Foreign Relations called the waivers a paradox that directly undermines United States national security interests. Russian envoy Dmitriev’s response was instant: “US-Russian economic and energy cooperation will continue.”<\/p>\n

The impact of Ukraine’s drone campaign is measurable. Kommersant, Russia’s business newspaper, reported that Russian seaborn oil exports in mid April fell to their lowest level since summer 2024. The Centre for Price Indices reported a 16.1% decline in seaborn exports for the week of 06 to 12 April. Black Sea exports through Novorossiysk dropped by 73.2% in a single week.<\/p>\n

The Kyiv Independent reported that Ukraine’s attacks have reduced Russia’s export capability by approximately twenty percent. Budanov told Ukrinform on 09 April that the oil strikes are strengthening Ukraine’s negotiating position: “Strikes on Russian oil terminals are affecting the course of peace talks. Ukraine will likely hear many new things from the Russians at the next round of talks.”<\/p>\n

Russia has responded with threats. Al Jazeera reported that Moscow issued a formal warning to European countries against funding Ukraine’s long range drone production, calling the European agreements a deliberate step leading to a sharp escalation. Russia threatened unpredictable consequences. Deputy Defence Minister Besonov responded by posting photographs of Russia’s improvised air defences, truck mounted air to air missiles, noting that Moscow cannot produce enough systems to protect its own territory.<\/p>\n

The fracture in United States Ukraine relations is now structural. Washington asks Ukraine not to strike Russian oil; Ukraine strikes Russian oil. Washington waives sanctions on Russian oil; Ukraine strikes more Russian oil. Washington renews the waiver against protest from its own lawmakers; Ukraine hits four refineries in one night. This is not an alliance functioning normally.<\/p>\n

Budanov framed the situation carefully, stating that partners’ perspectives are understandable but that Ukraine has its own truth and its own national interest. The leverage the United States once held, military aid, political backing, diplomatic cover, has been squandered. Ukraine sees the sanctions waivers, the arms diversions to Iran and the rhetorical betrayals, and makes its own calculations.<\/p>\n

Those calculations, as of this week, involve setting the Black Sea on fire. Tuapse burned for a day. The smoke was visible from space. Ukraine hit four more refineries two nights later. The fires are not merely a military operation. They are a declaration of strategic independence. Those fires are burning still.<\/p>\n