Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv has not committed to an energy ceasefire without credible guarantees that Moscow will also stop its attacks, despite President Donald Trump announcing that both countries had agreed to halt strikes on each other’s energy targets.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is challenging President Donald Trump’s declaration that Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, saying Kyiv has received no dependable assurance that Moscow will abide by such a truce.
The disagreement emerged after Trump announced Monday that he had secured reciprocal commitments from the two countries.
“Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!” Trump wrote.
Zelenskyy responded by saying Ukraine remains open to an energy ceasefire but has not unconditionally agreed to stop its long-range strikes against Russian infrastructure.
“Ukraine is not certain that Russia is willing to stick to any agreement,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Kyiv would support a halt if its international partners could provide credible assurances that Russia would stop attacking Ukrainian electricity generation, energy facilities, infrastructure and food-supply routes. Any arrangement, he said, would need to be reliable and durable rather than simply a temporary declaration. Reuters reported that his remarks amounted to a denial that Ukraine had formally accepted the arrangement Trump described.
The uncertainty became even more pronounced Tuesday as the two countries continued attacking energy-related targets despite Trump’s announcement.
Russia launched roughly 200 drones at Ukraine overnight, striking petrol stations in Kyiv as well as energy and port infrastructure elsewhere, while Ukrainian forces reported hitting a Russian oil refinery at Syzran and other targets. The continued attacks underscored the gap between the proposed ceasefire and conditions on the battlefield.
Zelenskyy had already made clear before Trump’s announcement that Ukraine would respond to another Russian campaign against its power grid.
“Russia knows that if they strike — and they are preparing to strike our energy system — Russia will face the same in return,” Zelenskyy said. “If they cause blackouts for us, we will try to respond appropriately.”
He also proposed an alternative path through negotiations, saying both sides’ energy systems could be protected if Russia first stopped attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure and Kyiv then refrained from retaliating against Russian energy facilities.
That position is significant because Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign has increasingly focused on Russia’s refining industry.
Repeated strikes have forced major refineries to reduce or suspend production, contributing to fuel shortages inside Russia and prompting Moscow to restrict exports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Reuters reported Tuesday that six of Russia’s leading diesel-producing refineries — facilities responsible for roughly half of the country’s diesel output — had recently reduced production following drone attacks.
The attacks have increasingly exposed weaknesses in Russia’s ability to protect sprawling oil-processing facilities far from the Ukrainian border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged earlier this month that substantial repairs were still required following Ukrainian strikes and said Moscow had dramatically strengthened defenses around its refining infrastructure.
“We have only 10% of the refineries left to repair,” Putin said Sept. 2 after describing attempted overnight attacks against three facilities. He said those strikes had failed because defenses had been reinforced.
Ukraine has maintained that the refineries are legitimate military and economic targets because Russian petroleum production helps supply Moscow’s armed forces and generates revenue supporting the war.
Russian officials have rejected that argument and characterized strikes against refineries and other economic infrastructure as attacks on civilian facilities.
Trump stepped directly into that dispute Sunday, publicly urging Zelenskyy to stop targeting Russian diesel production.
“Mr. Zelenskyy has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump said, arguing that Ukraine’s refinery campaign was contributing to global fuel shortages. “Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel.”
Long-range Ukrainian drone attacks have reduced Russian fuel production and contributed to gasoline shortages in parts of the country, though global diesel markets are also being strained by other factors, including disrupted Middle Eastern refining and shipping.
The Kremlin welcomed Trump’s appeal.
“Any call on the Kyiv regime to stop attacks on civilian economic infrastructure can only be welcomed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
Moscow subsequently said it also supported the broader concept of a mutual energy ceasefire, although the Kremlin called for additional measures involving commercial shipping and sanctions. Russia had not publicly confirmed Trump’s statement that a binding reciprocal agreement was already in place.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has tied any pause in its refinery campaign directly to Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure.
“Every day, Ukrainian energy facilities, port infrastructure, logistics, even food and pharmaceutical warehouses become targets,” Zelenskyy said. “The war must be ended. And a de-escalation step regarding critical infrastructure could be a first step toward peace.”
His government says it is prepared to halt strikes if Washington and other partners can establish that Moscow will do the same.
Zelenskyy has also said any arrangement must produce tangible benefits for civilians rather than amount to an informal pledge that leaves Ukraine vulnerable to renewed Russian attacks.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s electricity network since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022, damaging generation capacity, substations and transmission infrastructure and causing widespread blackouts. Ukraine has increasingly responded by striking Russia’s petroleum production and refining network with domestically developed long-range drones.
The reciprocal campaigns have transformed energy infrastructure into one of the central fronts of the war.
Ukraine has demonstrated an expanding ability to strike refineries hundreds of miles inside Russian territory, while Moscow continues to launch large-scale missile and drone attacks across Ukraine.
The consequences now extend beyond the battlefield.
Russian refinery outages have reduced available fuel supplies and contributed to domestic shortages. International diesel markets are simultaneously confronting disruptions connected to other conflicts, leaving governments increasingly concerned about fuel availability and prices. Reuters reported that Russia’s refinery problems have become an additional source of pressure in an already tight global diesel market.
That economic backdrop helps explain Trump’s push for an immediate halt to attacks on energy infrastructure.
But the events following his announcement demonstrate that the diplomatic details remain unresolved.
Zelenskyy says Ukraine is willing to stop attacking Russian energy facilities if Moscow verifiably stops first. The Kremlin says it supports the concept while seeking broader conditions. And despite Trump’s statement that both countries had agreed, strikes against energy-related targets continued into Tuesday.
For now, the proposed energy truce remains less a completed ceasefire than a framework still being negotiated — with Kyiv insisting that any halt to its refinery campaign must be matched by an enforceable end to Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power system and other critical infrastructure.
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