US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire,” hours after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy had pushed back against US pressure for a unilateral end to strikes on Russian refineries.
In a social media post, Trump said the energy ceasefire would take effect immediately, but did not elaborate further.
In an interview with Axios, Zelenskyy said Trump’s post was the first he had heard of the deal, though a senior Ukrainian official told Reuters that Ukraine was ready to agree to such a ceasefire, if Russia was.
Trump, whose war in Iran has been blamed for high diesel prices that are weighing on Republicans’ prospects at next month’s midterm elections, had previously announced an energy ceasefire in Ukraine in mid-September, though neither side ever confirmed such an agreement was reached.
“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy had repeated Ukraine’s long-standing position that it was willing to halt attacks on Russian refineries but only if Moscow ceased its own strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure.
Any such deal would need to come with “real guarantees,” Zelenskyy said.
“The real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone,” Zelenskyy said. “It’s possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but Putin does not want to do so.”
by Reuters – Trump says Russia and Ukraine reach energy ceasefire ‘effective immediately’
