Zelenskyy says Russia broke Trump’s energy ceasefire

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Monday, Oct. 12, of violating the “energy ceasefire” that U.S. President Donald Trump announced a day earlier, while the Kremlin said only that contacts on the idea were continuing.

The dispute leaves unclear whether any ceasefire exists. Trump’s Oct. 11 announcement is the only public account of the agreement, and neither Moscow nor Kyiv has confirmed its terms, Al Jazeera reported, citing AFP, AP and Reuters.

Zelenskyy, speaking by video link to the Warsaw Security Forum, cited “Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump” and urged Washington to make sure Moscow complied. He said he was waiting for details of what the Americans and Russians had discussed and warned Ukraine would respond if Russia did not agree to a truce.

Ukraine’s state oil and gas company Naftogaz said Russia hit its gas production facilities in the Kharkiv region overnight, causing a fire and damaging critical equipment. Acting chief executive Sergii Fedorenko said on Telegram that crews were making repairs. Zelenskyy said in his Sunday night address that Russian forces had struck a combined heat and power plant in Kharkiv, and a Ukrainian official said the attack came after Trump’s announcement. Local officials said Russian shelling and air attacks injured at least 12 people in Kharkiv on Monday morning, The Moscow Times reported. None of these accounts has been independently verified.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that contacts on a possible energy ceasefire were continuing and that more information would come later, The Moscow Times reported. He declined to say whether it would cover only oil refineries. Peskov also rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal, made on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, for a 60-day ceasefire to allow Ukraine to hold elections, saying Moscow wants a comprehensive peace deal.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences shot down 151 Ukrainian drones overnight over 10 Russian regions and Crimea, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 37 drones were destroyed approaching the capital. Those figures are Russia’s own. The Moscow Times said local authorities and independent media reported no new strikes on Russian oil refineries in that period.

European leaders were sceptical. French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking at a Paris auto show, said he had seen no energy ceasefire from the Russian side in the previous 48 hours, Al Jazeera reported. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the Warsaw forum that Russia was not interested in a ceasefire, de-escalation or peace and said he would go to Brussels to press partners to consider more sanctions.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media that the bloc had added almost 1,600 sanctions targets tied to Russia’s military-industrial complex, which she called the single largest expansion of the EU sanctions list since the war began. Canada News Media reported on the sanctions list on Oct. 12.

The announcement came days after Trump temporarily eased U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel, a move European allies and Kyiv criticized. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said Carney told Zelenskyy on Oct. 11 that Canada would keep its current sanctions on Russia and strengthen them if needed. Our earlier coverage of Carney’s response to the diesel deal has the details.

Both countries have attacked each other’s energy infrastructure for months, which has added pressure to global energy prices, Al Jazeera reported. Zelenskyy said on Oct. 11 that Ukraine was ready to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow stopped hitting Ukrainian energy sites. The story is developing, and the actual terms of any agreement have not been published.

Via Al Jazeera and The Moscow Times.

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