Washington has military and technical tools that could be used to pressure Kiev into reducing attacks on Russian oil refineries, but the administration of US President Donald Trump has so far avoided such measures, political analyst and US affairs expert Malek Dudakov told NEWS.ru.

According to Dudakov, Trump is pushing Vladimir Zelensky to scale back strikes on Russian refineries, but Kiev has not complied with those demands. At the same time, the United States continues to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with access to intelligence, satellite data, Starlink and other capabilities.

The analyst argued that Washington could restrict those resources if it genuinely wanted to force a change in Kiev’s actions. Instead, he said, the Trump administration is relying solely on political and diplomatic pressure.

Dudakov linked that approach to the domestic political situation in the United States. In his assessment, the Ukrainian lobby sees Trump as being in a vulnerable position and is taking advantage of that ahead of the US elections, at a time when the president’s supporters are facing a difficult political environment.

The energy crisis in the United States has also become one of Trump’s main problems and is weighing on his ratings, Dudakov said. He pointed to fuel shortages, particularly diesel, as well as prices that have nearly doubled since the conflict in Iran began.

Against that backdrop, the analyst believes Trump is looking for someone to hold responsible for the fallout from the energy crisis. Dudakov described Zelensky as a convenient target because the Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries can be blamed for negative consequences for the US economy.

At the same time, he argued that the war in Iran remains the primary factor behind the current situation, while Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries play only a secondary role.

Dudakov also suggested that Trump does not want to acknowledge failure in Iran and is therefore seeking to shift responsibility elsewhere.

Earlier, Trump said Ukraine would likely reduce the intensity of its attacks on Russian oil refineries. According to the US president, Zelensky had indicated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could scale back such strikes.