US President Donald Trump announces a partial ceasefire in Ukraine. Zelensky says he is hearing about it for the first time. Putin does not advertise
US President Donald Trump announced an "energy truce" between Ukraine and Russia, apparently without consulting the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
In a post on social media, Trump claimed that the two sides had reached an agreement.
"As of this moment, the energy truce in the war between Russia and Ukraine is in effect. Both sides agreed. Do not violate it!", he wrote on his platform "Truth Social". He did not give details.
Zelensky said that he was surprised by the announcement, but that he would agree to it if they would Vladimir Putin did the same.
"If President Trump negotiated this with Putin, please tell us when the ceasefire begins. We are ready and we will accept it," the Ukrainian president told Axios.
Earlier, Zelensky rejected Trump's demand, made on Saturday, that Kiev stop bombing Russian oil refineries. Zelensky said Moscow must first stop its "brutal" attacks on his country's energy infrastructure.
"Any agreement to end Ukraine's long-range drone strikes against targets inside Russia would have to be reciprocal," he said. He added that it should be backed by "real guarantees" - meaning punitive measures by Ukraine's allies against Moscow, including the US.
There was no indication that the Kremlin was respecting Trump's ceasefire. According to Zelensky, Russian drones were in the air "all day" on Sunday. Also, as he stated, several airstrikes were carried out, including those on energy infrastructure, the "Guardian" reported.
Ukraine's president said Russians had hit thermal power plant number five in the eastern city of Kharkiv - the latest in a string of more than 200 attacks on power generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine over the past week. Another 17 attacks on gas and oil facilities were recorded, he added.
The rapidly escalating conflict between Washington and Kiev began on Friday, when Trump announced the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel exports. He said the move would lower fuel prices on the global and domestic markets ahead of the US congressional elections next month, the Guardian writes.
An enraged Zelensky called the decision bad and said it would bring Putin "billions" of additional income, allowing him to wage war "even more fiercely." Trump, also visibly annoyed, said that Zelensky should "finally stop" attacks on Russian refineries. Ukraine needs a "new leader", he said on Saturday.
Responding to Trump, Zelensky said that it is up to the Ukrainians to choose "this or that leader." He told ABC News that he was ready to accept Trump's demands and hold elections, but only if Putin agreed to a "complete" ceasefire for 60 days.
This sharp public conflict is the most serious between the US and Ukraine since last year, when Trump harshly criticized Zelensky in the Oval Office.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing European officials, that the US is threatening to freeze arms to Ukraine in order to force Kiev to stop strikes deep into Russian territory targeting energy infrastructure.
The New York Times reported that US officials had offered the Kremlin lucrative economic incentives in exchange for a ceasefire. Those incentives reportedly include the unfreezing of billions of dollars in Russian state assets. The Trump administration has also reconsidered a plan to sell parts of the Russian energy company Lukoil. The multibillion-euro deal would benefit investors from the Middle East, some of whom have "business ties" to the US negotiators, the newspaper said.
Trump criticized Zelensky on Saturday, saying he refused to make an agreement to end the conflict. In response, the Ukrainian president attributed all the blame for the biggest war in Europe since 1945 "exclusively to Russia".
"It is possible to stop attacks on energy infrastructure today, but Putin does not want to do that," he said.
Ukrainian officials point out that the White House is demanding that Kiev give up its most effective weapons, without asking for any concessions from Russia. In recent weeks, Kiev has dealt a major blow to the Russian economy with attacks on oil facilities, warehouses and data centers.
And the Russian bombing campaign was relentless. On Saturday, 23 people were killed in the city of Zaporizhzhya, including four children, and a five-story building in the city of Slavjansk, which is close to the front line, was also hit. Zelensky said Moscow's aerial campaign included thousands of rockets and jet-powered drones. He stated that it continued with "undiminished ferocity".
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