Ukraine will intensify attacks on Russian oil refineries in response to a new Moscow airstrike policy aimed at forcing people to abandon Kyiv and other cities, but it will not target civilians, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Ukrainian intelligence obtained documents showing that the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, had issued a ‘new doctrine’ of military attacks against a much broader range of civilian targets before this winter, Zelenskiy said.
‘We have seen the documents and know that they allow attacking infrastructure… logistics… roads, schools, hospitals, to pressure people to leave the capital and other cities,’ Zelenskiy said.
‘That is the aim of the operation.’
What prompted the policy shift, Zelenskiy said, was Putin’s desire to look strong at a moment when his armed forces were losing ground in a key region along the front and suffering a higher number of casualties.
The Kremlin did not comment on Saturday. But in a statement urging foreign citizens to leave Kyiv, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to systematically strike targets in what it called retaliatory attacks against Ukrainian strikes on Russia in recent months.
Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.
Counterattacks in Donbas
Zelenskiy said that an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive, code-named “Vivaldi,” had recaptured about 140 square kilometers (54 square miles) of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, which Russia says it must control in its entirety as a condition for any peace agreement.
In recent weeks, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has sought to restart negotiations to end the conflict that has already lasted four years — the bloodiest in Europe since World War II.
Last month, the American leader urged Ukraine to avoid attacks on Russian oil facilities, arguing that this was prompting a rise in global diesel prices.
But Zelenskiy, speaking as air-raid sirens sounded outside the gilded halls of the presidential offices, said he had received no indication from Russia that Putin was interested in peace negotiations or in discussing a ceasefire regarding energy infrastructure.
In the last week, the Ukrainian capital endured persistent drone and missile attacks by Russia against energy and telecommunications assets, as well as road and railway infrastructure. For the first time, Russia attacked the bridges over the Dnipro River that connect Kyiv’s east and west.
Zelenskiy said that Ukraine would respond to Moscow’s shift in tactic, but would not retaliate by indiscriminately attacking civilian infrastructure.
