NewzKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia has continued to strike Ukraine’s energy facilities even after U.S. President Donald Trump said a day earlier that the warring countries had agreed on an energy ceasefire in the 4 1/2-year-old war. Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had learned through media reports that Trump had secured an energy ceasefire deal with Russia which would involve a mutual pause in strikes on energy sites.
Zelenskyy said he would be willing to honor such an agreement, if Moscow did the same. “We support it, but I have not heard approval of this proposal from the Russian side,” Zelenskyy said. Trump’s brief social media post on Sunday claiming the purported agreement offered few details but said that the energy ceasefire took effect immediately, adding: “Do not break it!” Yet Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been “horribly surprised” that following Trump’s “sudden but very important post,” Russia had struck numerous energy facilities including a power plant in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as well as a gas production facility and a civilian gas station.
“It was clear that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not read Truth Social,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Trump’s social media platform. Trump previously announced a similar agreement on ceasing energy strikes that did not come to fruition. 14, he said both countries had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure, but offered no details on that proposal either.
Russia has used attacks on energy facilities in order to deny Ukrainian civilians power, heat and running water during the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter,” and fear Russia could ramp up such attacks as cold weather approaches. Ukraine, meanwhile, has leveled strikes against Russian energy sites like oil refineries, sometimes deep within Russian territory, prompting Trump to blame Zelenskyy for high diesel prices on world markets.
On Friday, Trump struck a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel in an attempt to address high fuel prices just weeks ahead of U.S. On Monday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to comply with Trump’s requests to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow … The EU also announced that it officially added almost 1,600 new sanctions on Russia's military industrial complex.
midterm elections.On Monday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to comply with Trump's requests to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted at… Ukrainian drone attacks, meanwhile, appeared to spare Russian oil refineries overnight.
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