03.10.2026 20:53

Ukraine will step up strikes on Russian oil refineries in response to Russia’s new tactics of launching massive attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an interview with Reuters, Ukrinform reports.

According to Zelensky, Ukrainian intelligence has obtained documents showing that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had issued a “new doctrine” of military attacks on a much broader range of civilian targets ahead of this winter.

“We saw documents and we know that they allow them attack infrastructure … logistics … roads, schools, hospitals, to pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities. This is the goal of the operation,” he said.

Driving the shift in policy, Zelensky said, was Putin’s desire to appear strong at a time when his military was losing ground in a key frontline region and sustaining higher levels of casualties.

Over the past week, the Ukrainian capital has come under persistent attack by Russian drones and missiles targeting energy and telecoms assets, road and rail infrastructure. For the first time, Russia has targeted the bridges across the Dnipro river connecting east and west Kyiv.

The president stressed that Ukraine would respond to the change in tactics by Moscow, but would not respond in kind by targeting civilian infrastructure indiscriminately.

“We have to respond in any way (we can). With their attacks on our energy, we have to respond on their energy. First of all, oil refiners: what gives money to them for this war. But we will not respond, of course, just like them, on any civilian objects,” Zelensky said.

Reuters reported that the Kremlin was not available to comment on Saturday. But in a statement urging foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Moscow would continue to systematically hit targets in what it said were retaliatory strikes for Ukrainian attacks on Russia in recent months.

After the Trump administration invited Putin to attend a G20 summit in Miami in December and discussed business deals with Russian envoys, Zelensky urged Washington not to normalize relations with Russia before ensuring a return to peace.

He said he would be happy to meet Putin for peace talks at the G20, but he warned the U.S. not to believe in “illusions” that Russia would end hostilities if it gained control of Donbas.

Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine

(C)UKRINFORM 2026