Add The New York Post on Google WASHINGTON — Ukrainian drones struck three Russian oil refineries on Monday after US special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv over the weekend to resume peace talks aimed at winding down the more than four-year war.
The strikes occurred at oil-processing plants in Russia’s Perm region, which contains a refinery owned by Russia’s private firm Lukoil, Tatarstan and Ryazan, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Sept. 7 statement on Telegram.
Launch sites for Russian drones in the Kursk Oblast region were also targeted, as was another site in the Black Sea, which Zelensky did not immediately provide further details.
Some Trump administration officials have been blaming Ukrainian attacks on the oil refineries for driving up gas prices in the US, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright telling CNN on Sunday that it’s been “the single-biggest factor” in addition to the closure of other processing plants in the prior administration.
“Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined products. So that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has told “Fox & Friends.”
Ukrainian drones also struck a launch and storage site for drones in Russia’s Kursk Oblast and “a target” in the Black Sea, he added without providing further details, though he did attach a video of highlights.
A video posted by the Ukrainian president showed the long-range drones flying back from the refineries —with smoke billowing from the sites.
The attack followed a meeting Zelensky held with Kushner and Witkoff on Sunday, which the Americans have since said moved Ukraine closer to peace with Russia.
“Substantive progress was made, including movement on scheduling additional trilateral talks,” said Witkoff in a Monday post on X. “President Trump is working hard to stop the killing and work towards a lasting and durable peace.”
The US special envoys had been forced to take a more than 10-hour train ride after Russian strikes on Kyiv’s airports.
Zelensky suggested in an earlier Telegram message that the drone attacks on the airports were “in response to American diplomacy.”
“Clearly, these Russian strikes on the airports are a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the U.S. side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine and land at Kyiv Airport or Boryspil Airport,” he said.
In Witkoff’s Monday post on X, the envoy had said both Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a three-day cease-fire before their visit.
“At President Trump’s direction, United States negotiators visited both Moscow and Kyiv in order to facilitate additional dialogue to end the Russia-Ukraine War,” Witkoff said.
“Special Envoy Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and officials from the National Security Council, State Department, and Treasury Department met with both President Putin of Russia and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine in order to discuss each side’s proposals with the other,” he added.
“In Kyiv, the delegations were also joined by national security advisors from the United Kingdom, Germany, and France to collaborate on the path forward.”
In an X post on Monday, Zelensky said: “We had substantive discussions about our air defense needs, the relevant technological cooperation, and the winter package we need.”
“Our partners know what can bear fruit and what must bear fruit ahead of winter,” Ukraine’s president added. “We are coordinating our next steps. We are preparing the next meetings and communications. Ukraine’s proposals are constructive, and they always will be.”
