Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine agreed to an “energy ceasefire”, although Volodymyr Zelensky said he had not been informed of any such agreement.
The US president announced the claim earlier on his Truth Social platform, writing: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine.
“Both parties have agreed. Do not break it! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mr Zelensky described the announcement as “news for me”, but said Ukraine would agree to the arrangement if Moscow followed the same terms. He also pledged to hold elections in Ukraine if a “total ceasefire” lasted for two months.
Since Russia’s invasion began in 2022, repeated attacks on Ukraine’s power grid have severely damaged the country’s energy system, reducing its capacity to about one-third of pre-war levels.
Kyiv, meanwhile, has stepped up strikes against Russia’s oil infrastructure, contributing to pressure on global energy prices.
On Friday, Mr Trump said Vladimir Putin had agreed to release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately “to the American and global marketplace”. The move came as the president sought to build support ahead of the US midterm elections, which will be held amid elevated fuel prices.
A further 500,000 tonnes is due to be released in November, followed by one million tonnes thereafter. Mr Zelensky described the arrangement as a “gift” to the Russian president.
Donald Trump pictured with Volodymyr Zelensky in September. He has claimed Russia and Ukraine have agreed an “energy ceasefire”
A car burns after a Russian strike hit a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday
One person was killed and eight wounded in Sunday’s Kharkiv strike, which took place as other attacks targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure
Mr Trump told Ukraine on Saturday to “get a new leader” after signing an oil deal with Vladimir Putin
This evening, Ukraine’s leader pushed back against Mr Trump’s announcement of an “energy ceasefire”, saying Russian drones had “infested” the skies over Ukraine while glide bombs struck the country’s energy infrastructure.
“Overall, this past week alone, the Russians have carried out more than 200 strikes on our electricity generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine, and another 17 strikes this week targeted gas and oil facilities,” Mr Zelensky said.
“They have killed more than 150 of our people, and more than 700 people have been wounded.
“Ukraine has proposed many de-escalatory steps. Putin had one answer to all of them – ‘nyet.’ We do hope that he will finally say something to America, Ukraine, and the entire world that will lead to a real and dignified peace.”
Earlier, Mr Zelensky said he had heard nothing about the proposed “energy ceasefire”, but added that Ukraine would accept it if Russia agreed. He said he was “awaiting details from the American side”.
He also blamed the conflict in the Middle East for driving up energy costs, saying: “If we want to speak with people fairly, if we want to be clear, if we want to speak with our nations openly, people have to hear reality. Don’t play games with people.”
Speaking about the ceasefire announced by Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky said: “The ceasefire announcement was news for me. But if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire Ukraine will agree.
“If President Trump negotiated it with Putin – please tell us when the ceasefire begins – we are ready and we will accept it.”
‘Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections.’
Mr Zelensky said he had spoken with Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney, Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte about the potential energy ceasefire.
‘Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well,’ he wrote. ‘We are awaiting details from the American side.
‘For our part, Ukraine always FULLY supports steps toward de-escalation, the protection of lives, and the decisions needed to end the war and guarantee lasting peace.’
Mr Trump’s diesel deal with Russia had prompted a furious response from Mr Zelensky, who described it as a ‘gift to Putin’.
Ukraine hit a key Russian oil hub hours later, causing the US president to call for the country to ‘get a new leader’ and threatening that Kyiv ‘damn well better stop’. He told reporters outside of the White House on Saturday: ‘[Mr Zelensky] could have made many deals, and for some reason, he never does.’
Mr Zelensky told ABC News today: ‘First of all, with all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people, to choose one or another leader.
‘I said it to President Trump… to his team and to his people several times: we want peace, we are ready for a ceasefire, we are ready to begin from any kind of steps of de-escalation.
‘Don’t attack us. Don’t kill our children. We will stop attacking your diesel. And I think it’s a fair, fair deal.’
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Mr Trump has been facing increasing backlash from voters over the war with Iran, which has helped diesel prices soar from $3.68 per gallon a year ago to $6.28 by Friday.
He reportedly decided to seal the fuel agreement after Mr Zelensky did not agree to his requests to stop strikes on oil infrastructure.
A US official told Axios: ‘Zelensky is misreading the room. By continuing to hit refineries, he is eroding the good will that he has built with Trump over the last six months.’
Ukraine’s success at targeting the industry in Russia has caused a crisis for Putin, but the nation does still have surplus diesel it can spare.
In the immediate aftermath of the Trump-Putin call, the Kremlin staged a new strike on sleeping Ukrainian civilians in Zaporizhzhia killing seven including at least three children, all girls, with ten wounded and 16 ‘missing’.
It brought the total to almost 90 civilians killed by Russia in three days.
The diesel pact between Mr Trump and Putin stunned Kyiv, with the Ukrainian leader accusing the US president of ‘weakness’ by caving in to the Russian.
But Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of ignoring six pleas to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which were raising prices, especially for diesel in the US ahead of midterm elections.
Twisting the knife, Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov aid the one-and-a-half-hour call with Mr Trump was so friendly ‘neither side wanted to hang up first’.
Mr Trump said he was ‘ready to continue communicating with Vladimir Putin this evening, through the night, and into the next day’.
Boris Johnson led a backlash at the US President today after he doubled down on his ‘sickening’ diesel deal with Putin.
Andy Burnham spoke to Mr Zelensky by phone yesterday to reassure him of the UK’s ongoing support. The leaders are expected to meet face to face in the coming days.
The Prime Minister said on Sunday Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infratructure were attacks on civilians which were ‘plunging them into cold and darkness’.
Mr Burnham said Britain ‘strongly’ supported Mr Trump’s call for an energy ceasefire and said it was the ‘best route to get energy and fuel back into world markets’.
Giving broadcast interviews this morning, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said: ‘We stand with Ukraine.’
‘It’s not the first time we’ve seen these sorts of tensions between Kyiv and Washington… our role, our responsibility, in this situation is to try to bring our friends back together,’ he told Sky News.
Mr Streeting suggested Mr Trump was grappling with ‘political reality’ of domestic elections.
‘Let’s be candid about this: midterms are coming up, cost of living is an issue,’ he said.
‘No doubt President Trump is feeling the same pressure that lots of leaders are facing in terms of wanting to ease cost-of-living pressures, energy prices.
‘I think it’s just a political reality, isn’t it? That cost of living is high on the public’s agenda in this country, elsewhere, and no doubt President Trump wants to respond to that.
‘We would obviously prefer a stronger approach on sanctions.’
Mr Streeting said people often ‘talk down’ the US contribution to Ukrainian defence, but ‘I’ve found the US administration to be highly engaged on Ukraine’.
Former PM Mr Johnson – a strong supporter of Ukraine – posted on social media last night: ‘It is sickening that the USA is now lifting sanctions on Russian fuel, and transparently ridiculous to blame Ukraine for the spike in prices that obviously began with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The US President announced a deal with Putin, which will see almost two million tons of Russian oil imported to the US, as the president seeks to shore up his ratings
Ukraine hit a key oil hub hours after Mr Trump blindsided Kyiv by agreeing to lift sanctions on Russian oil
‘Putin is murdering innocent Ukrainian civilians every day.
‘The Ukrainians are fighting for their lives. And yet the White House is apparently determined to force American drivers to bankroll Putin’s slaughter.
‘It won’t work and I doubt it will make much difference to the price of fuel. If we want Russian oil and gas back on the world market then let’s end this war – with a free, sovereign and independent Ukraine.’
