WASHINGTON, 16 Oct. - (ANA) - Russian drone strikes targeting the Volyn region of Ukraine plunged many civilians into darkness.

Donald Trump has criticised Ukraine, saying the war-torn country's strikes on Russian oil refineries are a "disgrace". The US President said last week that the two countries had agreed to an "energy ceasefire", in which they'd stop striking each other's energy infrastructure, though neither said they had actually agreed to it. Ukraine held off strikes for three days but resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries after saying Moscow repeatedly attacked its power grid.

 

This drew Mr Trump's criticism for allegedly sending oil prices skyrocketing. He told Newsmax: "All he's doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that's a disgrace.

 

"There are a lot ‌of targets you can ‌hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, ‌diesel oil, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he's not doing a good service for the world... I'm not a big fan of Zelensky. I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I think I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin."

 

Russia delivered its own strikes overnight, leaving 370,000 people without power and two people injured in the Volyn region of Ukraine, the regional governor said. Emergency power outages have also been introduced in Kyiv following an attack on energy facilities, Ukraine's national power provider DTEK said.

 

The past week has seen a deterioration in relations between Washington and Kyiv following Mr Trump's decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel amid rising fuel prices, which skyrocketed following the Iran war and tensions on the Strait of Hormuz. However, Andy Burnham would not back suggestions that the US has betrayed Ukraine, and insisted the UK would continue to build bridges with the US President.

 

The Prime Minister was asked by reporters if he agreed with the Ukrainian President's assessment that Mr Trump had betrayed his country by curbing its access to a vital Starlink satellite communications system. Mr Burnham said: "I was proud of the reception that the UK gave to the Ukrainian president yesterday. It was actually quite emotional to be in Downing Street and hear the cheers for him coming through the gates and coming through the Foreign Office.

 

"It was quite amazing actually, and I could see how personally moved he was by that. Obviously, it's been a difficult few days for President Zelensky, and that's why I invited him to the UK to give him that lift, and to see what more we could do.

 

"We obviously have close conversations with our US counterparts, and what I'm going to do is build that bridge and make sure that we're still all working together to support Ukraine.

 

"President Trump called for an energy ceasefire, President Zelensky immediately said he would engage in that immediately, and what has Russia done in the last few days? It's been bombing energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

 

"So it is quite clear once again to the world who the aggressor is in this conflict, and we will use whatever influence we have got as the UK to bring the parties together behind President Zelensky and Ukraine."   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/16 October 2026 - - -