(The Turkish Post) – U.S. President Donald Trump declared an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on Sunday, Oct. 11, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian drones hit power plants in Kyiv and Kharkiv the same day, and Moscow had not confirmed any agreement by Monday.
The announcement came two days after Washington eased sanctions on Russian diesel under a deal with President Vladimir Putin, a step that Kyiv, several European governments and a group of U.S. senators opposed. The White House did not publish terms for the truce.
Trump’s energy ceasefire post gives no terms
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine.” He added: “Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”
The post did not say which facilities the energy ceasefire covers, how long it would last or who would monitor it. The White House did not clarify the post when asked for details on Sunday.
The Kremlin made no public comment on the announcement. Russian officials have not said whether Moscow agreed to any halt in strikes on energy sites.
Zelensky says Russia hit a Kharkiv power plant after the post
Zelensky said in an interview on Sunday that the announcement “was news for me.” He added: “But if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire Ukraine will agree.”
In a later statement he wrote: “Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well.” He said Ukraine was waiting for details from the American side.
Zelensky said Russia struck a power plant in Kyiv with a Shahed drone and then hit energy facilities in the Kharkiv region. His office said the attack on a Kharkiv power plant came on Sunday evening, after Trump’s post. Zelensky said Russian drones had been over Ukraine “all day.”
He discussed the announcement with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, according to his office.
Kyiv offers to halt refinery strikes
Zelensky has said Ukraine is ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops attacking Ukraine’s energy system. Ukrainian drones have hit Russian refineries for months, and Trump said on Saturday that Kyiv should stop those strikes.
Ukrainian drones also hit three data centers of the Russian technology company Yandex in four days: in the Ryazan region on Thursday, the Kaluga region on Friday and the city of Vladimir on Sunday. The company said operations at the Vladimir data center had stopped, and Yandex services went down for users in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.
On Sunday, Zelensky also offered to hold elections if Putin agreed to a 60-day full ceasefire. The offer answered Trump’s remark a day earlier that Ukraine should get a new president. Zelensky said the choice of Ukraine’s leader was up to Ukrainians.
Diesel sanctions deal angers Kyiv and its allies
Trump announced on Friday, Oct. 9, that the United States had agreed with Putin to buy Russian diesel. He said Russia would release 300,000 tons “immediately” to the American and global market, followed by 500,000 tons in November and another 1 million tons after that.
Fuel prices have climbed since the start of the U.S. war with Iran, and the deal comes weeks before the U.S. midterm elections. Trump has blamed Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries for high diesel prices in the United States.
Ukrainian and European officials said the purchases would help finance Russia’s war. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators, including four Republicans, said the administration had failed to consult Congress as the law requires and called on it to reverse course.
Zelensky said on Sunday that the death toll from a Russian bombing of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday had risen to 23, including four children. Rescue work in the city has ended.
European leaders back an energy ceasefire
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a call with Zelensky that she fully supported his call for a ceasefire.
French President Emmanuel Macron said France supported a real energy truce. He said Ukraine was willing to accept one but that Russia continued to reject it and had intensified strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in recent hours.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham backed a lasting energy ceasefire and said Ukraine was ready if Russia stopped its attacks. Carney expressed strong support for an energy ceasefire in his call with Zelensky and said the U.S.-Russian diesel deal undermined efforts to end the war.
Earlier truce claims did not hold
Trump made a similar announcement on Sept. 14, when he said both sides had agreed not to hit each other’s energy infrastructure. He gave no details then either, and strikes on power plants and refineries continued on both sides.
In March 2025, after a phone call between Trump and Putin, Russia agreed to a 30-day pause in strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities. Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of breaking that pause within days.
The Kremlin has not said whether Russia accepts the energy ceasefire Trump announced on Sunday.
