Trump silent as Russia hits American businesses in Ukraine

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump and his administration have ratcheted up pressure on Ukraine to stop striking Russian refineries, citing harm to American consumers, they have remained silent on recent Russian strikes on US businesses in Ukraine

Russia has escalated attacks on facilities linked to American companies, as well as civilian infrastructure across Ukraine in recent months.

Andy Hunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, told CNN that Russian missiles and drones have hit facilities belonging to some of America’s most notable brands, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, McDonald’s and Oreo.

Although Russia has tried to deter successful American business in the past, it’s “nothing we’ve seen like over the last months,” Hunder said.

“This is a direct hit with drones and missiles, and they keep hitting them. It’s sending a message that they’re targeting American business. We’re not seeing any response from the White House,” he said.

“We need this to stop because these are American interests, American money, American investors that are being hit and are being targeted,” he said.

When a Russian drone struck a Coca-Cola factory outside Kyiv in early September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack was a “clear signal” to the US.

“Today, the Russians struck a Coca-Cola plant with a drone. Coca-Cola has become such an enemy to them that they’re burning it down with their Shaheds,” Zelensky said in his nightly video address on September 3, referring to “Iranian-designed ​drones.”

“This is a clear signal from Russia to America. The Russians cannot possibly be unaware that this is an American enterprise,” Zelensky added.

Later that month, the Russians used “an attack drone” to destroy a warehouse used by McDonald’s, Zelensky said in a post on X. McDonald’s Ukraine confirmed in a statement that “a warehouse operated by one of our logistics partners in the Kyiv region was damaged in a drone attack on 25 September.”

“An attack drone – against ordinary food products,” he wrote. “The Russians are constantly expanding their escalation operation: American and other businesses, data centers, internet providers – for Russia, ordinary life in and of itself is simply a target.”

McDonald’s Ukraine said that as a result of the damage, its restaurants are offering a reduced menu.

PepsiCo acknowledged in a statement in late August that a production facility in the Mykolaiv region was damaged, but there were no casualties.

There is not a consensus among the US businesses on the ground about how much they want to talk publicly about being hit “or disclose the fact that they’ve been targeted multiple times,” a former senior State Department official told CNN.

“Some businesses do want us to raise this,” Hunder echoed, but others “are treading very carefully.”

However, several Democratic US lawmakers have publicly called on the White House to do more to protect American businesses in Ukraine and to call out Moscow’s actions. Ukraine has highlighted the attacks as another reason to step up defense support, so that they can sufficiently shield American companies on the ground.

President Donald Trump spoke out publicly when asked in August 2025 about a Russian strike on a US electronics factory, saying he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he was “not happy about it.”

A White House official said Trump “wants the war to stop entirely so the senseless killing ends.”

“The president and his team remain committed to continuing to play a constructive role in ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, and he remains optimistic that we’ll ultimately get a peace deal done,” the official said, arguing that the US is “the only country in the world” that can “play a constructive role in speaking to both sides in working towards bringing the war to an end.”

Still, the relative lack of condemnation of the strikes from the Trump administration stands in contrast to the admonishments to the Ukrainian government about striking Russian energy infrastructure.

In recent weeks, Trump has blamed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian diesel facilities for rising fuel prices, which have been driven up by the US-Iran war.

Last Friday, he announced a deal to waive sanctions and purchase diesel from Russia, in defiance of US law. The US has also threatened to restrict intel sharing and munitions for Ukraine if Kyiv does not stop those strikes, sources told CNN.

Hunder said he has struggled to understand the administration’s relative silence on the matter, particularly given how much they’ve portrayed themselves as pro-US business.

“Any company, any business, wants to have some sort of protection. You would expect your government to stand up in your corner and fight the fight with you, especially if it’s a foreign military that is attacking the American companies,” he said.

Hunder said the American Chamber of Commerce sent a message seeking a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner last month to update them on the state of US business in Ukraine, including the latest hits on American business.

“We didn’t get any response on that,” he said.