Zelenskyy says Ukraine awaits details of ceasefire but signals support
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has discussed an energy ceasefire with the leaders of Canada, Finland and Nato and is awaiting details from the US.
Writing on X shortly after saying such a deal was “news to me”, the Ukrainian leader said:
“Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it’s important for Russia to support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side. From our Ukrainian side, there is always FULL support for de-escalation steps, protection of lives, and the necessary decisions to end the war and ensure lasting peace.”
Key events
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday in response to critical comments from US President Donald Trump that he will organize elections in Ukraine if Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire.
“Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” Zelenskyy told ABC’s This Week programme.
Trump on Saturday criticized Zelenskyy for attacking Russian oil refineries a day after the US temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian fuel that were designed to deprive Moscow of revenues to fund its war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump had told reporters at the White House.
In response, Zelenskyy said “it’s up to Ukrainians” to choose their leader and noted that Putin would also like to change who is leading Ukraine.
He said it is easy for Ukraine to be blamed for higher fuel prices “when everybody in the world understands because of the war in (the) Middle East, the prices are rising.“
Earlier on Sunday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow ceases its own strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Under terms of the deal as described by Trump on Friday, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to US and global markets, equal to about 2.25 million barrels of fuel. The US exports about 1.5 million barrels of diesel per day.
Trump is under pressure to bring down rising fuel prices ahead of November midterm elections that will determine whether his Republican Party will retain control of the US Congress for his final two years in office.
Many lawmakers, including Republicans, have criticized the diesel deal as rewarding Putin.
Russia’s military said on Sunday it had struck a logistics centre in southern Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region and a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
A Russian Defence Ministry statement posted on Telegram said the logistics centre in the town of Ternivka was used to store military and dual-use cargoes for the Ukrainian military.
It said the vessel was carrying a military cargo to the Black Sea port of Chernomorsk.
France backs a “real energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday, after his US counterpart Donald Trump announced a truce along those lines without giving details.
“Currently, Russia continues to refuse that, by lately intensifying further its strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure,” Macron said, adding: “France will continue to stay by the side of Ukraine and President Zelensky.”
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has expressed her “full support for President Zelenskyy” amid calls for a ceasefire.
In a telephone call with the Ukrainian leader, von der Leyen posted on X that she “fully supported the call of President Zelenskyy for a ceasefire that would protect global food supplies and energy infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia.
“The war has entered a new, grimmer phase”, von der Leyen said. “Russia is stalling on the battlefield and striking civilians far behind the front lines.
“I conveyed our solidarity with the Ukrainian people. And my full support for President Zelenskyy as he leads the fight for his people’s freedom.”
Zelenskyy says Ukraine awaits details of ceasefire but signals support
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has discussed an energy ceasefire with the leaders of Canada, Finland and Nato and is awaiting details from the US.
Writing on X shortly after saying such a deal was “news to me”, the Ukrainian leader said:
“Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it’s important for Russia to support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side. From our Ukrainian side, there is always FULL support for de-escalation steps, protection of lives, and the necessary decisions to end the war and ensure lasting peace.”
Russia has yet to comment on Donald Trump’s claim that Kyiv and Moscow had reached an energy ceasefire.
On Friday, Trump had warm words for the Russian president after the country struck a deal to sell diesel fuel to the US in return for sanctions relief.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday, Trump said: “That is massive amounts of oil coming into our country. And I want to thank President Putin, to be honest with you. We have massive amounts of oil coming into our country, and it’s diesel which is what we want, so: thank you.”
A senior Ukrainian official has also reportedly told the FT that Ukraine had no information about Trump’s proclaimed ceasefire deal.
The official was quoted as saying: “Just now our repair teams are restoring electricity and water supplies in Kyiv” following Russian strikes. “Nobody has heard [of the ceasefire].”
Donald Trump’s call for Zelenskyy to make way for a new Ukrainian leader drew criticism from his own party.
Don Bacon, a Republican Nebraska congressman and former military officer, suggested Trump was not fit to lead.
Reacting to Trump’s statement that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president’”, Bacon wrote on: “We need a president who is up to the task of leading the free world.”
Luke Harding
The latest acrimonious row between Washington and Kyiv began on Friday when Trump announced he was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports. He said the move would reduce global and domestic fuel prices before next month’s US midterm elections.
A furious Zelenskyy called the decision “weak” and said it would generate “billions” in extra revenue for Putin, enabling him to wage war “even more intensely”. An equally irate Trump warned that Zelenskyy should “damn well stop” hitting Russian refineries. Ukraine needed a “new leader”, he said on Saturday.
Responding to Trump, Zelenskyy said it was up to Ukraine’s society to chose “one or another leader”. He told ABC News he was willing to bow down to US demands and to organise elections, but only if Putin agreed to a “total” sixty-day ceasefire.
Zelenskyy says ceasefire ‘was news for me’ but Kyiv would accept it if Moscow does
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the “energy ceasefire” was news to him.
He told the news outlet Axios that he was not aware of an “energy ceasefire” between Ukraine and Russia announced by Donald Trump, but added that if Moscow agreed to such a ceasefire, Kyiv would accept it.
“The ceasefire announcement was news for me. But if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire Ukraine will agree. If president Trump negotiated it with Putin — please tell us when the ceasefire begins — we are ready and we will accept it,” Zelenskiy was quoted as saying by Axios.
Luke Harding
In his Truth Social post, Trump gave no further details. The US president had made a similar claim in September, which turned out to be untrue.
Ukraine’s government did not immediately comment on the US president’s latest statement, or confirm a deal had taken place.
Luke Harding
Just hours before Donald Trump claimed the two sides had agreed a ceasefire on energy strikes, Volodymyr Zelenskyy rebuffed his demand that Ukraine stop bombing Russian oil refineries.
Zelenskyy demanded Moscow has to first halt its own “brutal” attacks on Ukraine and its energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s president said any deal to end his country’s long-range drone strikes on targets inside Russia would have to be “reciprocal”. It should be backed by “real guarantees” – meaning punitive measures against Moscow from Ukraine’s allies, including the US.
Trump claims Russia and Ukraine agree to stop attacks on energy infrastructure
Donald Trump has claimed Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an ”energy ceasefire”, though the US president gave no details of the purported agreement.
“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” he wrote on his Truth Social network.
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account shortly after Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told ABC on Sunday that Ukraine was ready for a ceasefire, including on energy infrastructure.
This announcement follows Trump’s criticism of Zelenskyy for attacks on Russian diesel facilities, which he blames for global shortages.
Stick with us as we bring you the latest developments as we get them.
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