Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Breaking Energy Ceasefire

Ukraine has accused Russia of violating a proposed energy ceasefire after overnight strikes killed several people and wounded dozens across the country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian drones hit a gas production facility and a petrol station, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure.

“There were Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump,” Zelensky said during a conference in Warsaw on Monday.

He said the agreement could help end the war if the United States ensured that Russia respected its terms.

“This energy ceasefire, it can work, and it can become a major step toward ending the war if the Americans truly step in now and make sure Russians respect it,” Zelensky said.

He added that Ukraine was waiting for details of the agreement between Washington and Moscow. He also called on the US to take concrete steps to enforce it. Zelensky said Ukraine had not attacked Russian oil refineries overnight. However, he warned that Kyiv would only suspend such attacks if Moscow stopped targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The strikes also hit residential areas. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, rescue workers searched damaged buildings after nighttime attacks killed at least three people. Municipal officials said further strikes hit residential buildings on Monday morning, injuring at least 22 people. At least three other people were reported killed in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk on Sunday.

Russia said discussions about a possible energy ceasefire were ongoing. However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected Zelensky’s proposal for a 60-day truce.

“In the Kremlin, both President (Vladimir) Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated that we do not want a ceasefire,” Peskov said.

“We want long-term peace and are prepared to do everything possible to achieve it,” he added.

Zelensky said Ukraine could hold elections, suspended during the war, if Russia agreed to a full ceasefire lasting 60 days. Trump’s latest announcement appeared similar to an energy ceasefire he announced a month earlier. Neither Russia nor Ukraine confirmed that earlier agreement.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies expressed doubts about whether Moscow would honour the proposed arrangement. They also urged Washington to maintain pressure on Russia. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for a broader ceasefire that would stop attacks on people as well as energy facilities.

“We would call the US to get the sanctions in place so that we could actually finish the war,” she said at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also backed continued pressure on Moscow, saying Russia would negotiate seriously only under pressure.

“Following Moscow’s ruthless attacks on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure, we must actually tighten them further,” Merz said.

The European Union has also approved its largest new set of sanctions against Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Trump has increasingly criticised Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries and logistics hubs. Kyiv has used the strikes to retaliate against Russia’s repeated attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.

The US president has linked the dispute to rising fuel costs, particularly diesel prices, following his military campaign against Iran. He is also facing pressure over high energy prices ahead of US midterm elections next month. On Saturday, Trump warned Zelensky to stop attacking Russian refineries, saying he had “better damn well stop.”

Trump has also announced a deal to buy diesel from Russia and called for Ukraine to hold elections to replace its wartime leader. According to Reuters, Washington had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and stop weapons supplies arranged through European countries.

Although the US no longer directly provides weapons to Kyiv, it allows European countries to purchase them on Ukraine’s behalf.