Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had stopped hitting each other’s power and fuel infrastructure, but he did so in a single capitalised post on Truth Social, and the leader of one of the two countries apparently learned about it online. The truce was “effective immediately”, the US president wrote, adding that both sides had signed up. He gave no timetable, no terms and no word on who had negotiated what.
Volodymyr Zelensky’s reaction was polite bewilderment. Speaking to Axios, he called the announcement “news to me” and said Kyiv would comply if Moscow did. If the deal had been struck with Vladimir Putin, he added, someone should tell Ukraine when it starts. The Kremlin offered no immediate response.
On the ground, nothing seemed to change. Ukrainian officials reported Russian drones over the country throughout the day, a power plant in Kyiv hit by a Shahed, and damage to thermal power station No 5 in Kharkiv. Kyiv counts more than 200 strikes on its electricity system this week alone. Scepticism is also fed by history: Trump claimed a similar arrangement in September, and it turned out not to exist.
The announcement capped a weekend of open hostility. On Friday Washington paused sanctions on Russian diesel, hoping to ease pump prices before November’s midterm elections, and Trump then demanded that Ukraine “damn well stop” drone attacks on Russian refineries. Earlier on Sunday Zelensky had refused, unless Russia halted its own campaign against Ukraine’s grid and allies promised penalties for any violation.
According to the Financial Times, US officials have warned European capitals that intelligence sharing and a key weapons-purchasing channel for Kyiv could be cut. Oleksandr Merezhko, who chairs the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said losing that intelligence would leave the country’s air defences blind. Zelensky, meanwhile, has offered to hold elections, but only under a full 60-day ceasefire.
