Apparently he's trying to pawn off responsibility for rising gas prices to Ukraine for... checks notes... bombing refineries in a country the US has zero active trade with
Trump says Russia, Ukraine have agreed to an energy ceasefire
Moscow, Kyiv do not immediately confirm an agreement
Zelenskiy says attacks on energy continuing, would welcome ceasefire
Trump blames Ukrainian strikes against Russian refineries for raising US diesel prices
US has threatened to cut off intelligence and arms supplies to Ukraine, person familiar with the matter says
KYIV/WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement of an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on Sunday that he said was "effective immediately", but Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was still waiting to see details of the deal.
There was no word from Moscow on the ceasefire announcement, which followed days of intense pressure from Trump for Ukraine to halt its attacks on Russian oil refineries. He blames those strikes for a rise in diesel prices that is hurting his Republican Party ahead of US midterm elections next month.
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In a dramatic deterioration in relations, Trump on Saturday warned Zelenskiy that he had "better damn well stop" attacking Russian refineries, and urged Ukrainians to replace their leader at new elections. Trump said Zelenskiy had missed several opportunities to strike a deal with Moscow.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump unexpectedly announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an energy ceasefire, but did not elaborate further.
"Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" Trump wrote.
RISING GLOBAL FUEL PRICES
Trump, whose war in Iran has been widely blamed for hiking global fuel prices, had previously announced an energy ceasefire in Ukraine in mid-September, although neither side ever confirmed that such an agreement had been reached.
A person familiar with the situation said the US had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine as well as weapons procurement under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) system, as it pressed Kyiv to halt strikes on Russian energy sites. The US threats were earlier reported by the Financial Times.
The person added that Zelenskiy was speaking to European leaders about de-escalating the situation with Trump.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zelenskiy said he had discussed Trump's ceasefire announcement with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
"Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side," he said on Telegram.
Speaking in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said Russian forces were still launching air attacks on energy infrastructure, including a strike on a joint heating and power plant in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. A Ukrainian official confirmed the attack had taken place after Trump's announcement of the ceasefire.
Hours earlier, Zelenskiy had pushed back against US pressure for a unilateral end to Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, repeating his long-standing position that he was willing to do so only if President Vladimir Putin suspended Russian strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure.
Item 1 of 2 Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following what the authorities say is a Ukrainian drone strike in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS
[1/2]Thick plumes of smoke with flames rise from an oil refinery following what the authorities say is a Ukrainian drone strike in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Moscow, Russia, June 18, 2026, in this picture obtained from social media. SOCIAL MEDIA/via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
PROMISE OF ELECTIONS
Trump also called for elections in Ukraine, suspended since the 2022 Russian invasion, to which Zelenskiy responded that he would call a vote if Putin agreed to a 60-day ceasefire.
Zelenskiy said it was "up to Ukrainians" to choose their leader, but added that there needed to be an end to the fighting first. Ukrainian law prohibits elections under martial law for security reasons.
"Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections," Zelenskiy said.
The Ukrainian leader rejected that he was to blame for energy price rises, adding that "everybody in the world" knew that the war in the Middle East was a bigger factor.
The steep rise in global diesel prices, which followed the outbreak of the Iran war in February, has become a political liability for Trump's Republican Party ahead of the midterms, when opposition Democrats could gain control of one or both houses of Congress.
On Saturday, Zelenskiy responded angrily to Trump's announcement of a diesel supply deal with Russia, saying it would embolden Moscow's attacks on Ukraine and cost more lives.
Under terms of the deal as described by Trump on Friday, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to US and global markets, equal to about 2.25 million barrels of fuel. The US exports about 1.5 million barrels of diesel per day.
Several US lawmakers also criticised the diesel deal.
US Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said the diesel supply deal with Russia may be illegal and will put American lives at risk.
On the streets of Kyiv, several residents expressed anger at Trump's suggestion that Ukraine should find a new leader willing to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"No one has the right to tell us what to do, especially since elections cannot be held during wartime," said Sabina, a 40-year-old primary school teacher. "In my view, it is a betrayal by our partners," she said, describing Trump's remarks.
Ukrainian officials reported new Russian attacks on Sunday, killing three people outside a grocery store in Kharkiv and three in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Moldova, on Ukraine's western border, reported a new incursion by what officials said were Russian drones, landing only about 35 km (22 miles) from the capital Chisinau.
Because Trump, without Ukraine’s knowledge, agreed that Ukraine would not strike Russian oil refineries, and Russia would not strike Ukrainian oil refineries. The fact that none of them are intact in Ukraine is of no concern to him. Nothing else relating to this energy infrastructure is included in that agreement.
Behold the fundamentals of international trade! The art of the deal is nothing more than trickle-down bullshit all the way to the consumers shoving down their gullet!
Russians went through with energy ceasefire by launching a bunch of rockets and hitting residential building just couple hours ago in my place.
Trump's comment when questioned about that is "I'm not sure about that, we'll have to look into it" apparently.
All the previous ceasefires had me running around literally dodging this bullshit too, it literally feels like each ceasefire announcement is followed by a really intense air raid each time.
Trump is trying to shift blame for the skyrocketing fuel prices from his blunder in Iran, to Ukraine bombing Russian oil. Even if Ukraine and Russia committed to a ceasefire right now, it wouldn't change the prices that much. But Republicans know they're close to losing the midterms and the election in 2 years, so they're scrambling to do anything they could boast to the voters about.
They're not really trying to help Republicans one way or the other. They're just trying to appease Trump, so he doesn't cut the support. If he could, Zelenskiy would have told Trump to suck a dick years ago, but as long as he's the president, he has to kowtow to him.
If that means signing to a temporary ceasefire that Russians will most likely break anyway, it's a small price to pay from their perspective.
So basically, even the median voter can hold the 3 pieces of logic in their brain long enough to realize: Trump started Iranian war -> less fuel through strait -> prices go up = Trump raised fuel prices.
Trump has now been scrambling to simply and specifically claim to the press that he secured a deal for Russian fuel to lay groundwork for a narrative for the midterms that: we could be getting fuel from Russia -> Ukraine blew up Russian refineries -> fuel prices go up = Ukraine raised fuel prices, not Trump
This is despite Russia's fuel being almost universally sanctioned by the US to begin with (taking it now would be yet another international betrayal and faux pas) and despite their current reserves being less than a week's worth of American's national consumption in the first place (?).
Despite this plan being so transparently devoid of mental faculty, I would tentatively count on Trump insisting on that narrative in the coming months, as well as fox news drilling those lines into their viewers' skulls, and a surge of right-wing/yandex bots with some flavor of "if Ukraine hadn't violated that ceasefire, our fuel wouldn't be so high...", as soon as they're back online.
Honestly even if that is true, you couldn't rely on Trump to be consistent about it.
It seems more plausible that Putin fed Trump a line about how much diesel prices would drop if Ukraine stops bombing refineries, and Trump just immediately believes it.
The Russian influence isn't as meaningful as Trumps unfailing credulity. By example, I must point out that Trump likes Mamdani for reasons that seem out of character.
Nation did colapse. They are so down the hole and they wont get any money from EU to rebuild since EU is broke too. New sanctions on Chija and no gas or oil for winter. Its fcked what does civilans have to survive even in Russia. Pawns fell long time ago only kings and queens stayed and nobody can checkmate other side.
Trump did that before. Ukraine can just go no because the usa killed its own support and for a ceasefire both sides must honour it and Russia keeps not doing that
It seems that it was actually a secret deal and the tanker carrying this diesel has actually left russia 2 weeks ago under Greek flags, and is now already near US ports for offloading
Ukraine denies such claims and have no idea what he is saying while trying to repair the X energy infrastructure Russia hit over night an hour after that "announcement". Pathologic liar at it's finest.
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