The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, responded to Russia’s overnight barrage against Kyiv by invoking recent Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries inside Russia and suggesting “both sides” may be unwilling to end the war. It is a neat soundbite. It is also a faulty comparison.
Start with what actually happened. Russia launched one of the largest air assaults of the year: roughly 600 drones and 31 missiles were fired, with impacts across the capital. At least 21 people were killed in Kyiv, including four children. The EU Delegation and the British Council buildings were damaged; London and Brussels summoned Russian diplomats. Kyiv declared a day of mourning. These are urban casualties and diplomatic sites in a European capital, struck in a single night.
Now compare the target sets. Ukraine’s long-range operations have focused on refineries and associated energy facilities that supply Russia’s war machine. Reuters’ tally: hits on ten plants have disrupted about 17% of Russia’s refining capacity—serious, but hardly the “20% destroyed in August” presented from the White House podium. Industrial disruption is not the same thing as apartment blocks and cultural offices ripped open at dawn.
Effects and intent matter. The Kyiv strike produced immediate civilian deaths and damage to civic and diplomatic premises. Refinery attacks are aimed at degrading logistics—fuel, finance, tempo—rather than inflicting mass casualties in city centres. Whether any single operation is lawful turns on the usual tests of distinction and proportionality; but as categories, an urban bombardment and a strike on a dual-use energy site are not equivalents.
Numbers also matter. Ukrainian air defences reported downing most of the incoming swarm, yet the sheer scale—nearly 600 drones plus 31 missiles—sets this assault apart. It is precisely this volume, over hours, against a densely populated capital, that lifts the event beyond the realm of tit-for-tat.
The “both sides” line obscures agency. On the very day EU and UK facilities in Kyiv were hit, the U.S. Embassy message framed the answer as mutual: the killing must stop and both parties must invest in a negotiated outcome. That is a diplomatic posture, but it does not describe the night in question, when one side launched a mass strike and the other did not.
Last night, Russia’s attacks in Kyiv again hit civilian targets, including Ukrainian homes and buildings housing the EU Delegation and British Council. Strikes on civilian areas are unacceptable and must stop immediately, and we extend our deepest condolences to the victims and…
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) August 28, 2025
If Washington wishes to argue for de-escalation, it can do so plainly: call out the Kyiv barrage, maintain the facts on refinery strikes, and resist the lure of symmetry for symmetry’s sake. On 28 August, the facts were asymmetrical. The messaging should have been, too.
