Russia struck at least six energy targets during air attacks across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday, casting doubt on an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump.
Zelensky said the attacks showed Moscow was unwilling to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. He identified a gas facility and a petrol station among the targets hit by Russian drones.
Trump announced over the weekend that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to attack each other’s energy systems, but neither side had confirmed the arrangement. It was the second time in a few weeks that Trump had declared an energy ceasefire without confirmation from the warring parties.
The announcement came as Trump faces pressure over rising energy prices ahead of US midterm elections next month. He has blamed Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries for driving up fuel costs and urged Kyiv to stop them.
Zelensky said Ukraine had not attacked Russian refineries overnight and remained willing to observe an energy truce if Russia did the same.
He also said Ukraine could hold elections, suspended during wartime, if Moscow agreed to a full ceasefire lasting 60 days.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said discussions about a possible energy ceasefire were continuing, with further details to be disclosed later. But he rejected Zelensky’s proposal for a broader truce.
“We do not want a ceasefire,” Peskov said, adding that Moscow wanted long-term peace and was prepared to do what was necessary to achieve it.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, rescue workers searched the wreckage of damaged buildings after overnight strikes killed at least three people. Further attacks on Monday morning hit residential buildings and wounded at least 22 more, municipal officials said.
At least three other people were reported killed on Sunday in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Russia’s latest campaign against Ukraine’s power grid began two weeks ago and has caused daily power cuts lasting hours in Kyiv. The outages have disrupted water and sewage systems and twice brought the capital’s underground trains to an abrupt halt.
Ukraine’s European allies voiced scepticism over the proposed energy truce and reaffirmed their support for Kyiv. EU foreign ministers approved a new sanctions package adding 1,569 people and businesses to the bloc’s list of banned individuals and entities, described as its largest single package since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Moscow would negotiate seriously only under pressure and called for sanctions to be maintained and potentially tightened following the attacks on civilian energy infrastructure.
Trump announced the proposed ceasefire days after unveiling a deal to buy diesel from Russia, a move Zelensky criticised as a reversal of Western efforts to isolate the Russian economy.
Trump has also called for Ukrainians to remove Zelensky through an election, adding to tensions between the two leaders since Trump returned to power in 2025.
A person familiar with the situation said Washington had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and supplies of weapons, which the US no longer provides directly but allows European countries to purchase for Kyiv.