U.S. warns Ukraine after attacks affect investments linked to Kazakhstan

According to CNN, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Olga Stefanishyna said Kyiv received a diplomatic demarche from the U.S. State Department following the attacks.

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

According to Stefanishyna, the U.S. warning concerned economic interests rather than military operations.

“It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there. We have taken the note on that,” she noted.

In late November, Ukrainian drones struck infrastructure at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, damaging facilities linked to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, a key export route for Kazakh oil shipped from major fields including Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak.

U.S. energy giant Chevron is a major shareholder in the consortium, which transports Kazakh crude to global markets via Novorossiysk.

Stefanishyna also noted that Washington’s message reflected the scale of U.S. economic interests in Kazakhstan.

“I was really, really sorry that in 35 years of Ukraine independence, having so many chances, we never brought ourselves to the situation where we can do the same,” she said.

Despite ongoing U.S.-brokered peace efforts, negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have yet to produce a breakthrough, while hostilities continue.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that the Government of Kazakhstan is implementing a comprehensive plan to increase the country’s oil refining capacity to 40 million tons per year.