EU Leaders Rally Around Zelenskiy in Brussels as Trump Calls Ukraine’s Refinery Strikes a ‘Disgrace’
EU leaders met Zelenskiy in Brussels as Trump attacked Kyiv for striking Russian refineries, Putin vowed a response, and Russian strikes left 370,000 people without power in Ukraine's Volyn region.
European Union leaders rallied around President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at a summit in Brussels on Friday, at a moment when missiles and drones are striking Ukrainian cities and President Donald Trump is openly criticizing Kyiv for attacking Russian oil refineries.
Trump, in an interview with the Newsmax news outlet, called Ukraine’s refinery strikes a “disgrace.” “All he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” he said, referring to Zelenskiy, after Ukraine hit a refinery southeast of Moscow that helps supply the Russian capital, Reuters reported.
The remarks follow a fast-moving dispute over an energy ceasefire. Trump announced last weekend that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other’s energy facilities. Zelenskiy then declared that Kyiv was abandoning that ceasefire, saying Russia had never stopped its own attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. With U.S. midterm elections in November, Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for pushing up energy prices.
Putin vows a response as Moscow hits back at EU companies
Russian President Vladimir Putin played down the damage on Thursday, saying the Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries had caused “nothing particularly significant,” the Interfax news agency reported. He said Moscow would respond to the attacks.
Russia also moved, on the eve of Zelenskiy’s appearance at the summit, to place local assets of French, German, Swedish and Dutch companies under temporary management, in retaliation for the EU’s support for Ukraine, according to Reuters. The Trump administration, meanwhile, is considering easing sanctions on so-called shadow fleet vessels that have transported oil and petroleum products from countries including Russia, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.
Preparing for winter
“We want to end this war as quick as possible. We don’t see now signals from the Russian side that they are ready for this, to end this war, that’s why we have to prepare for the winter,” Zelenskiy said as he arrived at the summit. “The winter package is not only energy, it’s also air defence and funding,” he added, saying he would discuss Ukraine’s needs for the rest of this year and for 2027.
The latest attacks underlined the point. Russian drone strikes on the city of Kharkiv killed three people, according to local authorities, while strikes on the Volyn region bordering Poland left 370,000 people without power. Emergency power cuts were introduced in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv during Russian strikes, private energy provider DTEK said on X.
Money was also on the agenda. Zelenskiy told Reuters earlier this month that Ukraine had agreed a plan with European partners to close a $27 billion deficit in its military spending for this year, allowing it to order the drones needed to keep fighting at the start of 2027. Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said recently Ukraine still faced an unfunded budget gap for next year of $32.6 billion, a figure that does not include an estimated $40 billion in direct military supplies from allies.
Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he was “unhappy with the number of countries that have been willing to pledge new financial support to Ukraine. But we will see several countries pledging more military support soon.” Asked about Trump’s remarks, Jetten added, “This is not the right language. It is also in the interest of Trump to defend Ukraine in this war.”
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.
