During Vice President Harris's private meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference in February, she told the Ukrainian leader what he did not want to hear: To refrain from attacking Russian oil refineries, a tactic that US officials believe would raise global energy prices and provoke more aggressive Russian retaliation inside Ukraine. The Washington Post reports.

According to officials familiar with the matter, the request has irritated Zelensky and his top aides, who see the series of drone strikes on Russian energy facilities as a rare bright spot in a war against a larger and better-equipped enemy.

According to these people, Zelensky brushed the recommendation aside, not being sure it reflected the consensus position of the Biden administration. But in the weeks that followed, Washington reinforced the warning in numerous conversations with Kyiv, including with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who visited the Ukrainian capital in March, and other senior US defense and intelligence officials.

however, instead of heeding the US request, Ukraine doubled down on its strategy, striking a number of Russian targets, including an April 2 attack on Russia's third-largest oil refinery, 800 miles away.

These incidents have exacerbated tensions as Kyiv waits to see if Congress will pass a long-delayed $60 billion aid package, while Russian troops push through Ukrainian positions along the front lines. The far-reaching Ukrainian strikes, which have hit more than a dozen refineries since January and disabled at least 10 percent of Russia's refining capacity, come as President Biden is launching his re-election campaign and global oil prices have hit a six-month high.

American, Ukrainian and European officials spoke about the differences of opinion between Washington and Kyiv on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive dispute. Zelensky's spokesman declined to comment.

Defenders of Ukraine's strategy accuse the White House of prioritizing domestic politics over Kyiv's military goals. "It seems to me that the Biden administration doesn't want gas prices to go up in an election year," Senator Tom Cotton told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a hearing last week.

"While Russia is attacking the Ukrainian oil and gas and energy sector, why don't the Ukrainians attack the Russian oil and gas and energy sector?" - Congressman Austin Scott asked during a separate recent hearing.

US officials say the rationale for their warnings is more nuanced than critics suggest.

According to officials, supporting global energy markets to reduce inflation is a priority for the administration. But it is also important for maintaining support for Ukraine's military efforts in Europe. "Rising energy prices risk weakening European support for helping Ukraine," a senior US official said.

The military benefits of bombing for Ukraine are also questionable, US officials say.

"Ukraine is better off pursuing tactical and operational objectives that can directly impact the ongoing fight," Austin told lawmakers.

American military planners are concerned that the strikes do little to reduce Russia's combat capability and have led to a massive Russian counterattack on Ukraine's power grid that is far more damaging to Ukraine than the attacks on the oil refineries did to Russia.

"Drone attacks do not destroy entire oil refineries and usually do not even destroy individual installations, but only damage them," wrote Serhiy Vakulenko, an oil industry expert, in an analysis for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "The Ust-Luga and Ryazan refineries returned to work a few weeks after the attack."

In recent weeks, Russia has unleashed a barrage of drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, leaving millions without power and raising fears that the attacks could bring Ukraine's economy to a standstill. The attacks destroyed a power plant in the Kyiv region, damaged Ukraine's largest hydroelectric power plant and several thermal power plants.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the attacks were a direct response to Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries and other infrastructure facilities deep inside Ukraine.