Trump says Russia agreed to energy truce, but Kyiv says it did not
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A gas station in Kyiv damaged by a Russian drone strike on the morning of September 15. (Photo: Kyiv State Emergency Service / Telegram)
Russia has not agreed to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Moscow and Kyiv had reached a reciprocal agreement, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 14, citing a Ukrainian official.
Trump and the Ukrainian government have offered conflicting accounts of the status of a potential agreement to stop strikes on energy facilities, the agency reported.
Trump said on Sept. 14 that Ukraine had agreed not to attack Russian energy facilities and that Russia had agreed to do the same regarding Ukraine.
However, a Ukrainian official told Bloomberg that Moscow had agreed to nothing.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said Ukraine was prepared to halt strikes on Russian critical infrastructure if its partners could ensure that Moscow genuinely committed to stopping attacks on Ukrainian energy, critical infrastructure and food supplies.
“Ukraine has proposed that its partners secure such an agreement with Russia that would stop the destruction of critical infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said. “Food, energy and other basic elements necessary for life must be protected, and Russian strikes are primarily directed against them.”
In his evening address, Zelenskyy clarified that the United States had proposed a mutual halt to strikes on critical infrastructure but said Russia had yet to demonstrate genuine readiness to end the war.
“If our American partners can ensure that Russia is genuinely ready to stop this war aimed at destroying life, Ukraine will take its own de-escalatory steps,” Zelenskyy said.
The Kremlin, meanwhile, welcomed Trump’s call for Ukraine to stop attacking Russian economic infrastructure but did not say whether Moscow would reciprocate by ending its own attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure.
Trump pressures Ukraine over Russian fuel facilities
The potential energy ceasefire emerged after Trump publicly urged Ukraine on Sept. 13 to stop striking Russian oil and fuel facilities, arguing that the attacks were contributing to a global diesel shortage.
“Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has to do just one thing,” Trump told reporters during a visit to the Irish Open golf tournament. “He has to stop destroying the diesel supply in Russia. He is causing a diesel shortage.”
Trump later argued that rising global diesel prices were primarily the result of Russia’s war against Ukraine rather than developments involving Iran.
High fuel prices have also become a political issue in the United States ahead of the November midterm elections, Bloomberg noted. Higher diesel costs squeeze household incomes and increase operating expenses for businesses, potentially feeding broader cost-of-living concerns.
Ukraine has intensified long-range attacks on Russia’s oil refining and fuel infrastructure, arguing that the facilities support Moscow’s war effort and generate revenue used to finance the invasion.
Russia has simultaneously continued large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy has said Kyiv is prepared to support a reciprocal halt to such attacks but only if Russia’s compliance can be reliably ensured.
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