Washington, Oct 11 (AP): US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an “energy ceasefire,” but offered no details on its terms.
Trump’s brief social media post said only that the ceasefire took effect immediately and that both sides had agreed to it. “Do not break it!” he wrote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X: “We discussed the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump. Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it is important that Russia support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side.” Zelenskyy added that he had spoken with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Moscow did not immediately comment on the announcement, and the White House did not clarify the president’s post.
Zelenskyy, in an interview aired Sunday, said Ukraine was ready to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, and asked Trump to press the Kremlin to agree.
“We are asking President Trump, (to) give them (a) signal, not (to) attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
Trump spars with Zelenskyy
Trump said Saturday it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the US
Zelenskyy said in response to Trump’s comments that Ukraine could hold elections if Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire. “Give us two months, 60 days off. Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections,” he said, adding that Ukraine would be ready to accept whatever choice its people made.
“With all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader,” he said. Zelenskyy added that holding a vote during the war would be unlawful and that Ukraine would need security guarantees to allow people to vote safely.
Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and the Ukrainian Constitution bars elections while it remains in force. Beyond the legal barrier, a nationwide vote would be vulnerable to Russian missile and drone attacks, and organising one is widely seen as logistically impossible, with roughly a fifth of the country under occupation, millions of Ukrainians displaced abroad, and soldiers on the front line. Zelenskyy’s term formally expired in May 2024, but the constitution allows him to remain in office until a new president is sworn in.
The US president, who on Friday struck a deal with President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel from Russia.
