Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet US President Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, where he will push for an energy truce with Russia ahead of what many Ukrainians fear could be the harshest winter of the war yet. The meeting comes days after a Sunday phone call between the two leaders, following which Zelensky said there was "diplomatic momentum" and fresh "ideas for de-escalation steps."
"Ukraine's energy sector, critical infrastructure, and our food exports must stop being targets for Russia, and this will lead to matching de-escalation steps on our part. Solutions are possible," Zelensky wrote on X on Monday. Russia, which holds the advantage in missile firepower, has given no signal that it wants to pause the air war.
Why Trump wants Kyiv to ease off Russia's refineries
Trump's interest in an energy truce is closely tied to the damage Ukraine's drone campaign is inflicting on Russia's oil industry. On Monday, the US president wrote on Truth Social that "Russia has unfortunately lost control of its Diesel Oil industry due to its War with Ukraine" and that "the whole World suffers." He added: "This ridiculous and never ending War with Ukraine must be ended."
According to the International Energy Agency, a Russian refinery was hit by Ukraine on average once every three days during the first eight months of 2026, helping to drive Russian oil refining output to its lowest level in more than 20 years. Diesel production is estimated to have fallen by nearly 30 percent over the past year, while petrol output has dropped by 20 percent.
A person familiar with the discussions told Reuters that Trump has asked Zelensky to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries as part of a broader de-escalation effort. Kyiv, however, is reluctant to act unilaterally: Ukrainian officials view the damage they are inflicting on Russia's vital oil industry as their strongest leverage to force Moscow toward the negotiating table. Trump's push also comes amid high US gas prices and what Reuters described as record-low approval ratings ahead of November's midterm elections.
The refinery war shows no sign of stopping
Despite the diplomacy, both sides continued striking energy and industrial targets this week. On Sunday, a Ukrainian drone attack hit a Moscow oil refinery during Russia's parliamentary elections — an assault Russian authorities described as the biggest on the city since the war began in 2022. Ukraine's general staff said its forces also attacked the Saratov oil refinery on Saturday night, reportedly causing fires and explosions, and hit the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region, where damage is still being assessed.
Trump himself announced last week that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to strike energy targets — but any semblance of a truce vanished within a day, when Russia hit petrol stations in Kyiv and Ukraine bombed a Russian oil refinery.
Russia, meanwhile, has widened its targeting of Ukraine's economy. Overnight strikes hit industrial sites in Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing three people, according to Ukrainian officials, while an attack on an energy facility left nearly 100,000 consumers in the northern Chernihiv region without power. Moscow also carried out what officials called a "massive" attack on the central Poltava region, hitting an industrial enterprise and critical infrastructure.
Winter looms over the negotiations
The timing of the UN meeting is no accident. Ukrainians fear Russia is preparing to pound heating and power facilities through the coming winter after a brutal 2025–2026 season in which temperatures fell far below freezing and millions endured long blackouts. On Tuesday, Zelensky will also raise how Ukraine can secure US-made Patriot air defence missiles for the winter — a pressing need given that Russia has sharply increased its use of jet-powered drones and, in July, fired the largest number of ballistic missiles in a single month since the war began.
The meeting will be closely watched for whether Trump can turn rhetoric into results. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected in New York and is due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday. For now, the refinery war continues — and with it, the leverage both sides believe they need before winter decides the next phase of the conflict.
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