Ukraine’s president said his country will strike Russian oil refineries harder, not people. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made the pledge after Ukrainian intelligence said it found documents showing Russia plans to widen airstrikes on civilian areas before winter.

“We saw documents and we know that they allow them to attack infrastructure, logistics, and especially to attack in the cities, in the villages, everywhere, roads, schools, hospitals,” Zelenskiy told Reuters in an interview. “To pressure people to leave the capital, leave different cities: this is the goal of the operation.”

Zelenskiy said Ukraine must answer in kind on energy. “With their attacks on our energy, we have to respond on their energy. First of all, oil refiners etc: what gives money to them for this war,” he said. “But we will not respond, of course, just like them, on any civilian objects.”

“Ukraine will not target civilians,” Zelenskiy said.

The statement came as Russia said it would step up strikes on Kyiv and other regions. The Russian Defence Ministry said on Sunday that forces would intensify attacks on military facilities, defence industry sites and related infrastructure. Moscow has said its strikes hit military-linked buildings, not civilians. Both sides deny deliberately targeting civilians.

Ukraine’s campaign against refineries is not new. Drones hit Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery and a major oil-pumping complex in the Samara region in early October, according to Ukraine’s General Staff. Fires were recorded at both sites. Ukrainian officials said long-range strikes had disabled more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity by early October. The Defense Ministry listed recent attacks at refineries in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Kirishi, Perm, Ilsky, Saratov and Syzran.

Why does this story land now? The timing sits between a Reuters interview published on Saturday and Russia’s Sunday vow to escalate. It also follows weeks of heavier aerial assaults on both sides as ground fighting has largely stalled along the 1,200-kilometer front line. Ukraine has attacked many refineries in Russia. This caused a fuel shortage in Russia. Gasoline sales were limited because of the shortage.

Who benefits from this framing? For Kyiv, the message draws a line between hitting money and hitting people. It tells allies that Ukraine can strike deep without crossing into civilian areas. It tells Moscow that energy, not neighborhoods, is the target. For Moscow, the counter-message is simple: any strike on Russian soil invites more strikes on Ukrainian cities. The Russian Foreign Ministry urged foreign nationals to leave Kyiv, saying Moscow would continue to hit targets in what it called retaliatory strikes.

What would the story look like if the opposite were true? If Ukraine said it would strike civilian sites, the headlines would focus on war crimes and moral collapse. If Russia admitted a doctrine aimed at civilians, the outrage would be immediate and global. Instead, both sides insist they avoid civilians, even as winter approaches and energy grids become the battlefield.

Zelenskiy’s words carry weight because they come with a clear limit. He ties Ukraine’s response to revenue, not residents. “First of all, oil refiners etc: what gives money to them for this war,” he said. That line does more than explain strategy. It sets a boundary that Ukraine says it will not cross.

The documents Ukraine says it obtained describe a “new doctrine” of military attacks on a broader range of civilian targets ahead of winter. Zelenskiy said the goal is to pressure people to abandon Kyiv and other cities. If true, the shift would mark a widening of Russia’s campaign beyond military and energy infrastructure. Moscow has not confirmed such a doctrine. It says its strikes hit military-linked buildings or infrastructure.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it would intensify strikes on Kyiv after Zelenskiy’s remarks. The ministry said Russian forces would step up attacks on military facilities, defence industry sites and related infrastructure. The foreign ministry warned that people in Kyiv were in serious danger. Some refineries in Russia have been hit up to 15 times since the war started. One refinery was hit every three days recently. This has led to ongoing damage and repairs, which could eventually weaken the units. Diesel output has fallen by about 30 percent, and drivers have had to wait up to 40 hours to fill up at gasoline stations.

The stakes are clear. Energy drives war machines. It also keeps lights on in apartments and heat in hospitals. When one side says it will hit refineries and not civilians, it tries to separate the two. The other side says it will hit back harder. Both say they do not target civilians.

What happens when winter deepens and grids fail? Who decides what counts as civilian when a power station feeds a factory and a neighborhood? These questions do not have clean answers. They sit behind every statement about doctrine, retaliation and restraint.

Zelenskiy’s line is simple. Ukraine will not target civilians. The next moves will test whether that line holds when the cold comes and the pressure rises.

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