President Trump announced over the weekend that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an immediate ceasefire covering strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, a narrower version of the broader peace effort his administration has pursued since last year's Gaza deal. The announcement was meant to pause more than a year of mutual attacks on power plants, refineries and gas facilities that have left millions of people in both countries facing blackouts heading into winter.
Within hours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia struck a power plant in Kharkiv, followed by attacks on gas facilities, and said Ukraine's military had not struck Russian energy sites since the ceasefire was announced. Speaking in Kyiv, Zelenskyy pushed back on Trump's suggestion, made at the White House, that Ukraine rather than Russia was the holdup in making the truce stick. The Kremlin said Monday that talks on the arrangement were continuing.
The dispute touches on a second disagreement: Trump has pointed to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a driver of rising diesel prices, while Zelenskyy instead points to disruptions in oil shipments through a narrow waterway off Iran's coast. Separately, European officials have criticized a Trump administration diesel arrangement with Russia, and the EU's top diplomat said sanctions on Moscow would continue regardless of the energy ceasefire's fate.
The energy truce is the latest in a long line of attempted de-escalation steps in the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has settled into a grinding conflict marked by periodic strikes deep into both countries. Ukraine's parliament separately passed a minority rights law this week, a step Kyiv hopes will unlock progress in its long-running talks to join the European Union.
Watch for whether strikes on energy targets actually stop in the coming days, which would be the clearest sign the ceasefire is holding, and for any further comment from Moscow on the status of talks.
What does the energy ceasefire cover?
It is meant to halt strikes by both Ukraine and Russia on each other's power plants, refineries and gas facilities, separate from the broader war.
Is the ceasefire holding?
As of Tuesday it was in dispute: Ukraine says Russia struck a power plant hours after the announcement, while Kremlin officials say talks are continuing.