Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that so far, "there is no indication that Russia is complying" with an energy ceasefire announced by President Trump the day before. Trump's announcement, Zelenskyy said Russia struck a power plant in eastern Ukraine. By Monday afternoon, Russia had attacked six additional energy facilities across Ukraine.
"Ukraine is ready to guarantee the energy ceasefire, as announced by the American President, and Russia must take corresponding steps," Zelenskyy wrote on X. "As of now, there is no indication that Russia is complying with the conditions outlined by the American President." Asked Monday about reports that Russia had violated the energy ceasefire, Mr. Trump said: "I'm not sure about that, and we'll take a look.
But all I know is that Zelenskyy and Putin have to get together and end that ridiculous war." He also said "there's been violations on both sides." The U.S. president later told reporters that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to make a deal more than Zelenskyy." Over the last year, Mr. Trump has made several attempts at brokering deals to halt strikes on energy infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine that failed to materialize or were quickly violated. Trump claimed that Putin agreed not to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure for a week, but Russia attacked Kyiv's power and heating plants four days later.
Trump said both Putin and Zelenskyy had agreed to refrain from striking one another's energy infrastructure, but neither side halted attacks. Zelenskyy told CBS News in an interview after the September proposal that Ukraine would be willing to agree to such a moratorium but doubted Russia would ever reciprocate. One reason for the Kremlin's intransigence is that Russia's attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have a relatively greater impact than Ukraine's.
Ukrainian strikes primarily target Russia oil and gas infrastructure, attempting to cut into the energy revenues Russia uses to fund its war effort. The attacks have brought Russian oil refining to a 20-year low and reduced diesel production by 30% in 2026, according to the International Energy Agency, but Russia's economy has shown little sign of collapse. "For Russia, Ukraine's attacks are an inconvenience and an inflationary pressure," Alexander Kolyandr, director for Europe at Eurasia Group, told CBS News.
"It is definitely damaging Russia's economy, but it isn't putting it on the verge of collapse." Russia — with more drones and missiles and an economy 10 times the size of Ukraine's — is able to inflict more relative pain on both the country's economy and its civilians. Ukraine has already begun to experience power outages this fall as Russia hammers its power grid heading into winter. "Because the Ukrainian economy is so much smaller than the Russian one, the relative effect is much higher," Kolyandr said.
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