(Bloomberg) -- Senior Ukrainian officials defended Kyiv’s attacks on oil infrastructure deep within Russian territory following a report that US officials had warned against the operation because of surging oil prices and the prospect of Kremlin retaliation. 

Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna said refineries in Russia are legitimate targets providing resources to President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Even as the strikes appeared to stop this week, the official was queried on the report in the Financial Times at a conference in the Ukrainian capital Friday. 

“We understand the calls by American partners,” Stefanishyna responded during a panel discussion at the Kyiv Security Forum. “At the same time, we fight with the capabilities, resources and practices that we have today.” 

Ukrainian forces attacked more than a dozen refineries inside Russia with explosive-laden drones this month, prompting the country’s daily oil refining rate to fall to the lowest weekly level in ten months. The successful attacks contrast with fighting on the front line, where the balance is shifting in Russia’s favor — though the damage to oil facilities poses a risk to world markets.  

US officials, who have long warned Kyiv against widespread strikes on Russian territory, told counterparts in Ukraine’s State Security Service, or SBU, and military intelligence that the attacks risk driving up the global oil price and provoking a response by Moscow on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the FT reported, citing unidentified officials familiar with the discussion. 

Another official, Mykhailo Podolyak, an aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the report on the US request was “fictional” — and that Ukraine has the right to destroy Russia’s “instruments of war.” 

“Nobody after two years of large-scale war can dictate conditions of waging this war to Ukraine,” Podolyak said on Dozhd TV. 

After the Ukrainian attacks last week, the strikes ceased after the weekend, with Russia reporting no new refinery hits after the last one took place on Sunday. The SBU declined to comment on whether the US requested a halt to the attacks. 

Russia meanwhile on Friday staged the largest missile and drone barrage against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since the start of the invasion. The attack damaged the nation’s biggest hydro power plant in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, a crucial nerve center for power generation, particularly in the winter months.

--With assistance from Volodymyr Verbianyi.

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