Trump's Ukraine energy ceasefire crumbles as strikes continue

A Ukraine energy ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump on Sunday is already falling apart, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying Russia violated the deal within hours while Kyiv says it has honored every part of the pause. Trump announced on social media Sunday that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure, effective immediately. The Ukraine energy ceasefire caught Ukraine's government off guard. Zelensky said he learned about the deal through the media, according to Reuters, and told Fox News on Monday that Ukraine had carried out no strikes on Russian energy facilities since the announcement.

Hours after Trump's post, Russian forces struck a thermal power plant in Kharkiv, killing three people and wounding nine others, including children, Zelensky said at the Warsaw Security Forum. He added that Moscow also hit a gas production facility and a civilian gas station. Speaking to Fox News' "America's Newsroom," Zelensky said Ukraine backed the Ukraine energy ceasefire as a first step toward ending the war but warned that Putin showed no interest in honoring it. He said Putin had attacked gas infrastructure even after Trump's ceasefire announcement, according to the New York Post. Zelensky made clear that Kyiv would only halt its long-range refinery campaign if Russia stopped hitting Ukrainian energy sites, a position he described as reciprocal de-escalation.

The Ukraine energy ceasefire lands on top of a strike campaign that has become one of Ukraine's most effective weapons. Ukraine's Defense Ministry assessed late Sunday, October 4, that long-range drone and missile strikes had disabled 51 percent of Russia's oil refining capacity, a claim that could not be independently verified. The strikes hit refineries and related facilities in Moscow, Yaroslavl, Ust-Luga, Perm, Saratov and Syzran. An earlier assessment from Ukraine's General Staff put the figure at about 45 percent on September 21, after months of attacks, and the Defense Ministry said it had tripled production and procurement of long-range strike drones this year.

Winter stakes for both grids

Inside Russia, the campaign has produced a real fuel crisis. The International Energy Agency estimates Russian diesel output has fallen by about 30 percent, and the Associated Press has reported waits of up to 40 hours at petrol stations in some regions, with authorities restricting gasoline sales. In a rare public acknowledgment, Putin told the Valdai Club forum of foreign policy experts that the strikes had cost Russia roughly one percent of gross domestic product and said Kyiv had partially achieved its stated goal of damaging the economy, in a statement reported by the Associated Press. Zelensky said Russian forces had carried out more than 200 strikes on Ukrainian generating capacity in the past week alone, along with 17 on oil and gas installations. A lasting Ukraine energy ceasefire would protect heating supplies on both sides as temperatures drop.

Washington pressures Kyiv while buying Russian diesel

The United States has pressed Ukraine to show restraint. The Financial Times and CNN reported Monday that the State Department and Pentagon warned Ukrainian and European officials that American assistance could be cut off if Kyiv did not rein in its long-range strikes on Russian refineries. Trump told reporters Monday evening that there had been violations on both sides and demanded that Zelensky and Putin find a way to end what he called a ridiculous war. Days before the ceasefire announcement, Trump revealed that the United States would import hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel from Moscow, days after Russia was blamed for a Starlink sabotage fire in Poland in a bid to lower pump prices, a deal struck in defiance of existing sanctions that angered Kyiv, according to the New York Post. Zelensky said he was still waiting for the details of whatever arrangement Washington had reached with Moscow, as reported in earlier coverage of the refinery campaign and cautioned that the Ukraine energy ceasefire must not force Ukraine to halt its refinery attacks unilaterally.

Europe answers with sanctions

European leaders responded to the confusion with skepticism and new pressure on Moscow. The European Union approved fresh sanctions targeting Russia's military-industrial complex, and foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged the United States to keep the pressure on the Kremlin. Kallas said she would prefer a ceasefire that also stops people being killed, adding that it was far from clear Moscow would respect any deal. Russia had yet to comment publicly on Trump's announcement, according to Reuters. Zelensky said Ukraine was ready for reciprocal steps toward de-escalation, days after Germany emerged as Kyiv's main arms supplier but insisted that effective pressure on Russia was the only way to make the Ukraine energy ceasefire hold, adding that wars end when the aggressor realizes it cannot prolong the war.