Ukraine defies Trump and renews attacks on Russian refineries. The Guardian. Ukraine renewed attacks on Russian oil refineries despite pressure from Donald Trump ahead of the US midterm elections. Russian state media reported on Sunday that Ukrainian drones set fire to an oil refinery in Kastovo (Nizhny Novgorod region) during the night. This happened shortly after the attack on another large refinery in the Samara region, owned by Rosneft. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Ukraine had bowed to pressure from the White House and stopped bombing Russian energy infrastructure. However, Ukrainian officials told the Kyiv Independent that they never agreed to a demand by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the US president, to suspend attacks on the refinery for 30 days. Attacks against Russia resumed on Friday, senior Kremlin officials said, complaining that Kiev was "simply ignoring" US requests. Vladimir Zelensky did not approve the recent attacks on the refinery, apparently trying to avoid harsh retaliatory measures from the United States. Instead, he said that the Ukrainian army hit a defense industry plant in the Rostov region that produced missiles.