Ukraine hits Russian refinery hours after Volodomyr Zelensky’s talks with Trump

Ukrainian forces hit one of Russia’s biggest oil refineries in its latest deep strike as Kyiv extended economic, military and diplomatic pressure on Moscow.

Ukraine’s almost daily long-range drone and missile strikes using domestically developed weapons have battered Russian oil facilities and brought a fuel crisis that is embarrassing the Kremlin more than four years after Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbour.

The overnight attack started a fire at the Ryazan refinery, which has a capacity of about 17 million tonnes of oil a year, producing petrol, diesel fuel, aviation fuel and other petroleum products, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

The attack 400km from Ukraine came hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Washington on Tuesday for talks with President Donald Trump in another step in recruiting more vital US help for Ukraine’s fight against its much bigger enemy.

Ryazan governor Pavel Malkov said six people were taken to hospital after a drone attack.

He said drone debris caused fires at unidentified “industrial sites”.

“Russia must feel that every day of this war will only come at a higher cost for it. We need to weaken the aggressor and keep up the pressure to bring an end to this war closer,” Mr Zelesnky said in a post on social media.

Ukraine’s recent high-profile successes against Russia have impressed Washington and helped restore US goodwill after Mr Trump’s reluctance at the start of his second term to continue to support Kyiv.

Mr Zelesnky said he had a “good meeting” with the American president, and Mr Trump described the meeting as a “Great Honour”.

“Many things were discussed. The meeting went very well!” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Mr Zelesnky said he also had a meeting in Washington with representatives of both parties in the US Senate, with more than 60 senators in attendance, as Ukraine pushes for more sanctions on Russia.

He also met representatives of Lockheed Martin, days after he welcomed a delegation from Raytheon to Kyiv.

The US weapons manufacturers are a crucial source of sophisticated weaponry, such as Patriot air defence systems, that Ukraine hopes to make itself.

Mr Trump said earlier in July that he would grant Ukraine licences to manufacture the Patriots it needed to counter Russia’s ballistic missiles.

Prospects for a settlement to stop the fighting appear dim, despite a yearlong diplomatic push by the Trump administration.

But US officials also agreed that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the President’s main envoys, would make a trip to Kyiv sometime in the future, according to a person familiar with the talks.

Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi, the new commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military, said he had held his first phone conversation with General Alexus G Grynkewich, NATO’s supreme allied commander Europe and commander of US European Command.

“I outlined my vision of Ukraine’s victory and the capabilities required to achieve it,” said Maj-Gen Drapatyi, who was appointed last week as part of a government reshuffle.

Ukrainian forces also struck a naval base used Russia’s Black Sea, according to the General Staff.

It reported other strikes on a radar station in Russia’s Bryansk region on the border and on a drone launch site and a road bridge in the occupied part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

The Russian defence ministry reported on Wednesday that its air defences shot down 295 Ukrainian drones overnight above a number of Russian regions and occupied Crimea.

A 67-year-old person was killed in a Russian aerial attack on Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, and Russian glide bombs struck the northeastern city of Kharkiv and 17 other places in the region over the previous 24 hours, wounding 11 people, regional officials said.