Ukraine's military has quietly paused its strikes against Russian oil refineries after weeks of pressure from President Donald Trump, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Thursday, in an unofficial halt that is expected to last at least until after next week's U.S. midterm elections. The pause, which Kyiv has not publicly announced, marks a striking shift in one of Ukraine's most effective campaigns of the war — and it comes at a moment when relations between Washington and Kyiv have rarely been worse.
The Journal, citing people with knowledge of the operations, reported that Ukrainian units carrying out long-range strikes were told in mid-October that the campaign against refineries was effectively on hold, once missions already in motion were completed. Reuters, reporting on the Journal's account, noted that it could not immediately verify the report. The unofficial pause is expected to last until after the midterm elections on November 3, and potentially deeper into November, the Journal said.
A Campaign Put on Hold
Ukraine's long-range drone campaign against Russian refineries has been one of its most consequential weapons in the nearly five-year-old war. The strikes targeted facilities that generate money and fuel for Moscow's war effort, and they helped drive Russian diesel and gasoline prices sharply higher in recent months. For Kyiv, the campaign was leverage — a way to impose costs on Moscow directly, even as Russia's far larger military ground forward on the battlefield.
That leverage is now, at least temporarily, set aside. According to the Journal, the pause began early last week, at the height of a crisis in U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Days earlier, Trump had called for the removal of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Elon Musk's SpaceX had limited Ukraine's use of the Starlink satellite internet service, a system Ukrainian forces rely on for battlefield communications.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Evgeniy Khmara told Zelenskyy that the military had sensed it was best to hold off on refinery strikes because of the delicate diplomatic situation, a person familiar with the matter told the Journal. Zelenskyy said that was fine, the person said, but stressed that the military was free to hit refineries again if it chose to.
Speaking to reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday, Zelenskyy neither confirmed nor denied a formal halt. "Our guys tried to be a little more careful during these days. But they do not have an order" not to hit refineries, he said, adding that drone units are hitting different kinds of targets in Russia right now.
Why Trump Wanted the Strikes to Stop
Trump has pressed Ukraine behind the scenes for weeks to end the refinery campaign, and his frustration has grown as Kyiv refused. The president has blamed the Ukrainian strikes for pushing diesel prices to record highs, a politically sensitive issue days before Americans vote in the midterms.
In an earlier Journal report, Trump was said to have called on Ukraine to stop hitting Russian refineries — and to replace Zelenskyy — in a conversation that rattled officials in Kyiv. A U.S. official denied that any threat, implicit or explicit, was made at that meeting. But the pressure has been unmistakable, and it has coincided with a series of moves that stunned Ukraine's supporters in Washington.
Earlier this month, Trump announced a deal to buy diesel from Moscow and waived sanctions on Moscow that had been authorized by a bill he signed into law in September. The diesel deal drew condemnation from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. "Propping up Putin's war economy is morally wrong as he uses that money to bomb cities," said Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican who is retiring after this term. He said Trump's policies toward Russia and Ukraine "are failures."
Trump has also ended the bulk of American aid for Ukraine's defense, though intelligence-sharing remains valuable to Ukraine's military, as do weapons the United States sells to European allies for Ukraine's use.
What Kyiv Wants in Return
Ukraine's government has not announced any pause, and Zelenskyy has said Kyiv wants something in exchange for holding off: more protection for its own energy infrastructure, which Russia has been systematically destroying with missile and drone attacks ahead of winter.
That condition has not been met. While Ukraine has eased off Russian refineries, Russia is continuing to escalate its missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and its cities, inflicting a mounting civilian death toll, the Journal reported. Ukrainian officials have long argued that halting the refinery strikes without a matching Russian commitment would mean giving up their main leverage for nothing — and they note that Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected a mutual pause.
For Ukraine, the calculation is painful either way. Continuing the strikes risks further alienating the White House at a moment when American support is already shrinking. Stopping them removes one of the few tools Kyiv has to make the war costly for Moscow, while Russian bombardment of Ukrainian cities continues unabated.
What This Means
The reported pause reveals how deeply American domestic politics now shapes the battlefield in Ukraine. The timing — holding until after the midterm elections — ties a military decision in Eastern Europe directly to the U.S. electoral calendar, with fuel prices at American pumps as the connecting thread.
It also underscores a transformation in the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Where Washington was once Ukraine's most reliable backer, Kyiv now finds itself calibrating its war effort to avoid provoking the White House — even, according to the Journal's reporting, pausing a campaign its own military views as effective. The episode has already shaken confidence in Kyiv about the durability of American support, and it has opened a visible split between the White House and members of Congress from both parties who argue that pressuring Ukraine, rather than Russia, rewards aggression.
The pause also raises a question that will define the coming weeks: whether restraint buys diplomacy. The news of the halt comes amid renewed efforts to revive U.S.-backed peace talks to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. If the pause is followed by genuine negotiations, Kyiv's defenders will call it statesmanship. If Russia simply pockets the breathing room for its refineries while continuing to bomb Ukrainian power plants, critics will call it surrender.
What Happens Next
Several things will signal which way this goes. First, whether the pause holds beyond the midterms — the Journal reported it could extend deeper into November, but Zelenskyy's own comments leave the door open for strikes to resume at any time. Second, whether Russia eases its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the concession Kyiv has said it wants in return. And third, whether the reported restraint produces any movement in peace talks, which have stalled repeatedly despite months of American diplomatic effort.
For now, the war's most visible economic front has gone quiet — not by public agreement, but by an unofficial understanding, reported rather than announced, in a conflict where what is not said often matters as much as what is. Ukraine's drone units are still flying, the Journal noted, but their targets have changed. How long that lasts may depend less on events in Russia or Ukraine than on the outcome of an election thousands of miles away.
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