Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington said the United States formally warned Kyiv after a Ukrainian strike on a Russian oil terminal in Novorossiysk affected American economic interests.
Ambassador Olha Stefanishyna said the US State Department sent her a démarche – an official diplomatic notice – following a Nov. 25, 2025 strike on the Sheskharis oil terminal in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The terminal, owned by Russia’s state pipeline company Transneft, also handles Kazakh oil through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which includes US energy giant Chevron as a shareholder.
Chevron was also the only major US oil company producing in Venezuela through a legal waiver from 2006 until the ouster of Nicolas Maduro several months ago.
According to Stefanishyna, the attack “affected American investments that were made through Kazakhstan.”
“We heard from the State Department that we should refrain from attacking American interests,” she said at a briefing, as reported by CNN.
At the same time, she stressed that Washington did not ask Ukraine to stop attacking Russian military or energy infrastructure in general.
“It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there,” she said. “We have taken the note on that.”
The US State Department has not commented publicly.
After the strikes, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry protested. It called the attack “an act of aggression against an exclusively civilian facility” and said the CPC plays an important role in global energy stability.
The strike
The Nov. 25 strike was part of a major overnight Ukrainian drone operation. Sources within Ukraine’s security services told Kyiv Post that the attack damaged the Sheskharis oil-loading terminal, nearby S-300 and S-400 air-defense systems, and a large Russian landing ship docked at the Black Sea Fleet base.
The operation was carried out by the SBU’s Alfa special-operations unit with Ukraine’s Security and Defense Forces using long-range drones, targeting multiple military and logistics sites in Krasnodar Krai.
According to Ukrainian sources, the strikes hit the oil terminal’s loading stands and manifolds, nearby air-defense positions, and the Project 1171 landing ship.