US formally warned Ukraine over strikes that hit Russian oil facility, ambassador reveals

The Trump administration issued a formal diplomatic warning to the Ukrainian government late last year, expressing concern that Ukrainian drone strikes on a Russian Black Sea oil facility had inadvertently impacted American economic interests in Kazakhstan, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States revealed Tuesday.

Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna told reporters that the US State Department delivered a demarche—a formal diplomatic notice—to Kyiv following the strikes on the port of Novorossiysk in late November.

“We have been hearing that Ukrainian attacks on Novorossiysk affected some of the American investments which are being performed through Kazakhstan. And we have heard from the Department of State that we should refrain from, from, you know, attacking American interests,” Stefanishyna said at a briefing.

The strikes, carried out by Ukrainian drones, damaged a key pipeline operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which transports oil from Kazakh oil fields to the Black Sea for export. US energy giant Chevron is a major shareholder in the consortium, and the disruption led to a significant drop in Kazakh oil exports.

Stefanishyna was careful to note that the US did not issue a blanket request for Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian military or energy infrastructure. Instead, the communication was narrowly focused on the specific incident where American commercial assets were affected.

“It was related to the very fact that American economic