Russia’s War in Ukraine

Understanding the conflict four years on.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Ukraine defying U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for an energy cease-fire, calls for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign, and a new border crossing between China and North Korea.

Despite the White House repeatedly urging Kyiv not to target Moscow’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian forces resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries on Thursday. “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times on Thursday.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Ukraine defying U.S. President Donald Trump’s demand for an energy cease-fire, calls for Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign, and a new border crossing between China and North Korea.

Despite the White House repeatedly urging Kyiv not to target Moscow’s energy infrastructure, Ukrainian forces resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries on Thursday. “The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Financial Times on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has faced growing pressure to tackle rising fuel prices inflamed by the wars in Ukraine and Iran ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections. In a bid to bring down energy costs, Trump had urged Zelensky to halt all strikes on Russian oil refineries, and on Friday, he suspended U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel exports.

Then, on Sunday, Trump unilaterally declared an energy truce between Russia and Ukraine while also calling for Zelensky’s removal. Ukraine agreed to the truce and suspended such strikes for three days. However, during those three days, Russian forces launched dozens of ballistic missiles at critical Ukrainian energy infrastructure, plunging around 600,000 people in Kyiv into darkness on Wednesday.

According to Zelensky, the decision to........

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