Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to intensify strikes on Russian oil refineries following a newly intercepted Russian doctrine authorizing expanded attacks on civilian infrastructure before winter.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Details New Russian Strike Doctrine and Targets
Ukrainian intelligence services have obtained documents revealing that Russian leadership has adopted a new doctrine of military strikes across a much wider range of civilian targets. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking from a school bomb shelter in Kyiv, warned that the policy abandons previous constraints as Moscow attempts to force civilians to abandon major cities before the winter months.
The directives explicitly allow strikes on logistics networks, roads, schools, hospitals, and municipal energy systems. Zelenskyy described the approach as a deliberate effort to inflict terror and economic strain.
We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
The Russian Foreign Ministry separately urged foreign diplomats and foreign nationals to leave Kyiv or risk being harmed, stating that Moscow intends to continue systematic retaliatory strikes. While foreign embassies continue operating in the capital, analysts from the General Staff, the Defense Ministry, and intelligence services assessed the impact of these ongoing long-range operations.
Kyiv Responds With Retaliatory Deep Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries
Defense analysts and intelligence officials assessed that systematic long-range operations have already taken more than 51% of Russia’s refining capacity offline, and Ukraine plans to expand its long-range operations against Russian energy infrastructure in direct response to Moscow’s strategy.
Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara emphasized that hitting over half of Russia’s refining capacity deals a heavy blow to the enemy’s economy and military supply chains.
Fifty-one percent of refining capacity hit is a significant blow to the enemy’s economy, its ability to wage aggression and supply its military forces. Our deep strikes continue to bring the war to Russian territory.
Yevhenii Khmara, Defense Minister of Ukraine
Zelenskyy maintained that while Kyiv must target the oil revenues funding the invasion, Ukrainian forces will not respond by indiscriminately targeting civilian objects, noting that previous Russian strikes have hit apartment blocks, gas stations, supermarkets, and data centers.
Russian Strikes Damage Kyiv Bridges and Disrupt Traffic
In Kyiv, a Russian turbojet loitering munition struck the Northern Bridge for a second consecutive day, disrupting traffic and severing overhead trolleybus wires, as the weekend cross-fire brought heavy casualties and infrastructure damage across multiple regions.
The North Bridge attacks followed the complete closure of Kyiv’s South Bridge to vehicular traffic on Friday.
German Support and Diplomatic Maneuvering Ahead of US-Led Talks
I travelled to Kyiv today because Ukraine needs all our support in the coming weeks.
Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany
Zelenskyy stated he would be happy to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G20 summit, but cautioned Washington against holding illusions that Moscow would halt its ambitions if handed full control of the Donbas region—where an ongoing counteroffensive code-named “Vivaldi” has recaptured approximately 140 square kilometers (54 square miles) of territory, a region Russia insists on controlling entirely as a condition for any peace deal. The visit coincides with preparations for upcoming trilateral talks proposed by the United States administration under President Donald Trump to revive efforts to end the four-year-old conflict—Europe’s bloodiest since World War Two.
Concurrently, to address a domestic defense budget deficit of $27 billion this year, Kyiv has formulated a joint financial plan utilizing reallocated national funds, bilateral aid, and cash loans drawn from the next tranche of the European Union’s €90 billion financing package.