Trump announces Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire

Donald Trump said Ukraine needed a new leader, a day after making a deal with Vladimir Putin to purchase large quantities of Russian diesel. His remarks added criticism of Ukraine's leadership to the announcement of the fuel agreement.

The US president suggested that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not done enough to end the war with Russia. He also blamed Zelenskyy for high diesel prices in the United States.

The Ukrainian president expressed outrage at the agreement Trump announced Friday. Trump said the agreement was needed to lower diesel prices, ahead of November's midterm elections, in which fuel costs are a key issue for voters.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine was prepared to take steps to de-escalate the war, but made that willingness conditional on Russia taking the same steps.

Russian fuel production has become a point of contention between Zelenskyy and Trump. Trump has sought to stop Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, arguing that they worsen a global diesel shortage. Zelenskyy has rejected those requests unless Russia stops attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined Monday to say whether Russia had agreed to an energy ceasefire, saying contacts were ongoing. Trump had claimed in a brief social media post Sunday that the arrangement took effect immediately, but his announcement offered few details.

Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland, Zelenskyy said Ukraine learned of the claimed deal through media reports. The proposed energy ceasefire would involve a mutual pause in strikes on energy sites. Zelenskyy said he would honor such an agreement if Moscow did the same.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine's energy system. He asked Trump to press the Kremlin to agree and said Ukraine would respond if Moscow did not accept an energy ceasefire this winter.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at a foreign ministers' meeting in Luxembourg that Russia had not yet shown it would stick to the ceasefire. She also said she would welcome a ceasefire covering people's lives as well as energy.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said at least 600,000 people across Ukraine were without electricity following deadly Russian attacks overnight. The strikes involved both missiles and drones, and the outages extended across the country.

He said critical energy infrastructure was hit in Kyiv, the capital region and the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The attacks came despite US President Donald Trump's claim on Sunday that an energy ceasefire was in place between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's defence ministry described its overnight strikes as massive and said they targeted communications and energy facilities in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions. The ministry said those facilities were being used by Ukraine's military.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 39 ballistic and cruise missiles and 128 drones overnight. It said Ukrainian forces shot down four of the missiles and 115 of the drones.

Zelensky has repeatedly said Ukraine is ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities if Moscow also stops its attacks. His stated willingness to halt those strikes remains conditional on Russia doing the same.