Trump Declares an Energy Ceasefire and Kyiv Asks When It Starts
“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed,” the president wrote. Volodymyr Zelensky said it “was news for me” and asked Washington to say when it begins. Moscow has not confirmed it, and Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy continued through the day.
The post contained no scope, no verification mechanism and no start time. Mr Zelensky’s position hardened into a conditional yes: “Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side,” and on American television, “Don’t attack us. Don’t kill our children. We will stop attack your diesel.” What there is no sign of is Russian observance. Mr Zelensky says drones flew throughout the day and that Kharkiv thermal power station number five was hit, the latest of more than two hundred strikes this week on generation and transmission, alongside seventeen on gas and oil facilities. A month ago the president made a near-identical announcement and both sides kept striking each other’s energy infrastructure. Running underneath it is a harder form of pressure, reported by one newspaper citing European officials and carried here at second hand: that Washington is threatening to halt the procurement system supplying Ukraine with weapons unless Kyiv stops hitting Russian refineries. Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, says a parallel threat to cut intelligence sharing would “blind” Ukrainian air defences and would be “an act of complicity… It would mean more dead civilians and dead children.” Andy Burnham and Mr Zelensky called for precisely this ceasefire on Saturday night. Twelve hours later one was announced over Kyiv’s head.