WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a truce covering the energy sector, but Russia bombed a Ukrainian power plant shortly afterward. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also pushed back, saying he was hearing about it for the first time. Trump appears to be straining to calm diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections, while Russia and Ukraine each go their own way.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on the 11th that both sides had agreed to the energy truce, that it took effect immediately and that neither should violate it. A White House official told Axios that the energy truce includes a halt to attacks on refining facilities and that Trump expects Zelenskyy to abide by it. The official added that an agreement to stop attacks on power plants and the electricity grid could follow once strikes on refineries cease.
Critics say the idea of a refinery-for-refinery truce is unrealistic. A Ukrainian official told Axios that Ukraine has only one refining facility and that it is not even operating properly. Russia, by contrast, has an extensive network of refineries. Ukraine wants Russia to stop striking power plants and the grid, but the White House led instead with a halt to refinery attacks, a somewhat different proposition.
In the hours after Trump's comments, statements and actions out of Ukraine and Russia struck a different note. Zelenskyy told Axios that the energy truce was news to him, but that Ukraine would agree to it if Russia did.
Zelenskyy later said on social media that Ukraine supports a truce and that it is important Russia supports one as well, adding that he was waiting for the U.S. side to release details, Reuters reported.
Russia nonetheless attacked a Ukrainian power plant after Trump's message, ABC News reported. The target was the CHP-5 thermal power plant in the eastern city of Kharkiv, which was hit at least twice and caught fire.
Tensions between the United States and Ukraine appear to be deepening. In an interview with ABC, Zelenskyy signaled he would hold a presidential election if Russia agreed to a 60-day full ceasefire. The remark was a counterpunch after Trump raised the need to replace him. Zelenskyy's term expired in May 2024, but martial law imposed because of the war has left the date of the next presidential election unset.
The Financial Times, citing multiple European sources, reported that the United States had threatened to cut off the supply channel for U.S.-made weapons if Ukraine continued to strike Russian refineries. Trump administration officials called European governments and Ukraine on the 10th and 11th to warn that they could halt intelligence sharing that Ukraine needs and also block the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a NATO-managed procurement system for U.S. weapons. Under PURL, Ukraine's allies foot the bill for American arms and then supply them to Ukraine.