Zelensky: Ukraine Offered US 3 Ways to Stop Strikes on Russian Oil Refineries

Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries at the request of US President Donald Trump’s team, but only if one of three conditions was met, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with journalist Alla Mazur.Speaking on the TSN.Tyzhden (TSN.The Week) program, Zelensky said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries could not have a significant impact on global prices, noting that Russia accounts for only 2% of global diesel exports, while the remaining 98% comes from other exporters.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.“How can one reach an ‘energy truce’ with the Russians? You might be hated, but you should at least be respected as an adversary. They must respect Ukraine – and our strength. He [Putin] inflicts great pain upon us, and we respond. It is a matter of justice,” Zelensky said.According to him, Ukraine had proposed three possible ways to resolve the dispute to the American side. However, none of the proposals had been implemented, which is why Ukraine continues to strike Russian oil refineries, he said.“I said: if you want us to stop hitting diesel facilities and refineries, then they [the Russians] must stop striking our power infrastructure. That is fair – an ‘energy truce.’ A second option: you enable Starlink coverage over Russia, and we show you the locations of their ballistic missile launchers. We want to destroy them.“The third option is this: if you won’t enable Starlink for us – which is entirely up to you – and you’ve said that Musk doesn’t want to, then give us something that doesn’t depend on Musk or Putin: missiles for the Patriot systems,” Zelensky said. Other Topics of Interest Russia Open to US-Ukraine Trilateral Talks After Nov. 4 Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has said Russia is ready to resume trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US after Nov. 4, calling the next round exploratory. He added that Ukraine had received none of the three proposed forms of support.“That is why the reaction is what it is – we are fighting for our lives,” Zelensky said.Zelensky warns against lifting sanctions before negotiationsZelensky also said that lifting sanctions against Russia should be considered only as part of the process of ending the war, rather than as a precondition for negotiations.“I would not want us to approach the meeting of the three leaders – Ukraine, the United States, and Russia – having already lifted all sanctions against the Russian Federation. This is a crucial point. Sanctions were imposed in response to aggression, not as a price for the mere opportunity to talk.”He said he had conveyed this position to the American delegation, cautioning that Russia could benefit from sanctions relief before any agreement on ending the war had been reached.He warned that once sanctions were lifted, restoring them could prove difficult, requiring Ukraine and its partners to rebuild international support for a new round of restrictions.“Without sanctions, we could reach a point in the trilateral dialogue where the future remains uncertain, yet the sanctions have already been removed,” Zelensky added.He said that the international community had adopted more than 20 separate sanctions packages against Russia and questioned whether the same political resolve could be mobilized again if Moscow failed to follow through on its commitments.“I do not want us to find ourselves without any leverage – lacking sanctions, funds, or frozen assets – when we sit down with Putin. Because then, as Mr. Trump put it, we would truly have very few cards left in our deck,” Zelensky added.Ukraine, US, EU and NATO plan security talks in BrusselsZelensky also said Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and NATO planned to hold a broad meeting in Brussels this week to discuss security issues, guarantees and European integration.According to the president, the format of the discussions had expanded following a visit by the American delegation to St. Petersburg and a preliminary briefing to Ukraine.The talks had initially been limited in scope, but the Americans were now seeking a broader discussion, Zelensky said.“The Americans (after Oslo – Ed.) went to St. Petersburg; we received a ‘brief’ from them, but now they want more than just a ‘brief’ – they want a broad discussion regarding security, guarantees, the EU, and involvement,” he added.The meeting was expected to take place this week, tentatively on Tuesday or Wednesday. Zelensky said the participants would include representatives of Ukraine, the US and the EU at the presidential level, as well as NATO, represented by the alliance’s secretary-general. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.