MOSCOW: Russian forces carried out an overnight strike on the Kremenchuk oil refinery that supplies fuel to Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region, Russia’s defense ministry said on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“Unfortunately, there was damage to the energy infrastructure,” Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation.
“This is Russia’s (effort to) spit on everything that the international community is trying to do to stop this war.” He said it occurred “after the Americans asked us not to strike at Russian energy facilities.”
The Russian defense ministry’s statement said that missiles had been fired at the refinery in Ukraine’s Poltava region from both sea and air and that strike drones were also used in what it said had been a successful attack.
Russia has claimed Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as its own and controls most of its two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine is fighting to stop Russia from taking control of the rest of Donbas and has said it plans to retake territory it has lost, through a combination of force and diplomacy.
The Russian Defense Ministry said separately that its forces had taken control of the village of Malynivka in the Donetsk region, known in Russia as Ulyanovka.
It also said its forces had advanced deep into enemy defenses in Ukraine’s Sumy region and inflicted heavy losses on Ukrainian units there. Sumy is not one of the regions Russia has formally claimed as its own, but it has spoken of creating a buffer zone there. Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Andriivka village in northeastern Sumy as part of a drive to expel Russian forces from the area.
He said Russia has amassed 53,000 troops in the vicinity.
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Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
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Russia says it struck oil refinery that supplies Ukrainian army with fuel
- President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack on the central Poltava region as a vile strike against Ukrainian energy infrastructure
UK Starmer calls for ‘calm discussion’ to avert trade war with US over Greenland
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on Monday for calm discussion to avert a possible trade war with the United States over Greenland, appealing to President Donald Trump to respect alliances such as NATO rather than undermine them.
All but ruling out retaliatory levies against the United States if Trump carried out his threat to impose tariffs on imports from Britain and seven other countries unless the US was allowed to buy Greenland, Starmer sought to de-escalate the war of words.
He used an early morning
press conference
to set out what he described as the values underpinning his approach toward Trump, which has been criticized by opposition politicians for being too weak, by saying “pragmatic does not mean being passive.”
STARMER SAYS TARIFFS SHOULD NOT BE USED AGAINST ALLIES
After telling Trump that his threatened tariffs were wrong on Sunday, Starmer doubled down to say he would use “the full strength of government” to try to stop the US decision, one, he said, that could only hurt already stretched households.
“Tariffs should not be used against allies in this way,” Starmer said, adding that he was not looking to escalate a tariff war at this point.
“A tariff war is in nobody’s interests, and we have not got to that stage. And my focus, therefore, is making sure we don’t get to that stage.”
Trump threatened tariffs on imports from the eight countries which sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland last week, following Trump’s repeated statements he wanted to take over Denmark’s vast Arctic island to ensure US security.
Starmer said he
told Trump
on Sunday those forces were “clearly there to assess and work on risk from the Russians.” He said he hoped that there was now “real clarity” about that.
The British prime minister signalled his approach would differ from that of the European Union, which has discussed options to respond, including a
package of tariffs
on 93 billion euros ($107.7 billion) of US imports.
Instead, he said, Britain should work to nurture a relationship with the United States that was crucial for UK security, intelligence and defense, while disagreeing with the tariff threat and working diplomatically to avert it.
Starmer said the threats risked causing a “downward spiral” for Britain, in terms of trade and the weakening of alliances.
“I do not want to see that happen,” he said, but he added: “That doesn’t mean that we put to one side our principles and our values. Quite the contrary, we’re very clear about what they are.”
Starmer has built a solid relationship with Trump and in May last year he became the first leader to secure a deal to lower some tariffs.
Asked if he thought Trump was genuinely considering
military action, Starmer said: “I don’t, actually. I think that this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion.”
All but ruling out retaliatory levies against the United States if Trump carried out his threat to impose tariffs on imports from Britain and seven other countries unless the US was allowed to buy Greenland, Starmer sought to de-escalate the war of words.
He used an early morning
press conference
to set out what he described as the values underpinning his approach toward Trump, which has been criticized by opposition politicians for being too weak, by saying “pragmatic does not mean being passive.”
STARMER SAYS TARIFFS SHOULD NOT BE USED AGAINST ALLIES
After telling Trump that his threatened tariffs were wrong on Sunday, Starmer doubled down to say he would use “the full strength of government” to try to stop the US decision, one, he said, that could only hurt already stretched households.
“Tariffs should not be used against allies in this way,” Starmer said, adding that he was not looking to escalate a tariff war at this point.
“A tariff war is in nobody’s interests, and we have not got to that stage. And my focus, therefore, is making sure we don’t get to that stage.”
Trump threatened tariffs on imports from the eight countries which sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland last week, following Trump’s repeated statements he wanted to take over Denmark’s vast Arctic island to ensure US security.
Starmer said he
told Trump
on Sunday those forces were “clearly there to assess and work on risk from the Russians.” He said he hoped that there was now “real clarity” about that.
The British prime minister signalled his approach would differ from that of the European Union, which has discussed options to respond, including a
package of tariffs
on 93 billion euros ($107.7 billion) of US imports.
Instead, he said, Britain should work to nurture a relationship with the United States that was crucial for UK security, intelligence and defense, while disagreeing with the tariff threat and working diplomatically to avert it.
Starmer said the threats risked causing a “downward spiral” for Britain, in terms of trade and the weakening of alliances.
“I do not want to see that happen,” he said, but he added: “That doesn’t mean that we put to one side our principles and our values. Quite the contrary, we’re very clear about what they are.”
Starmer has built a solid relationship with Trump and in May last year he became the first leader to secure a deal to lower some tariffs.
Asked if he thought Trump was genuinely considering
military action, Starmer said: “I don’t, actually. I think that this can be resolved and should be resolved through calm discussion.”
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