Ukraine and Russia do not confirm Trump's announced energy ceasefire as strikes continue

Russia kept up missile and drone attacks against Ukraine after President Donald Trump declared that the two countries had agreed to halt strikes on each other's power and fuel infrastructure. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has confirmed any such deal, PBS NewsHour reported.

The BBC reported that Trump made the announcement on Sunday, saying the truce applied immediately. Outside the White House, Trump said the sides agreed because he instructed them to, and he again faulted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the continuing war, according to PBS.

Zelensky said he learned of the arrangement only from Trump's post, the two outlets reported, but added that Kyiv would honor it if Moscow did. "If Russia will not attack our energy, we will not attack their energy," Zelensky said, according to PBS.

Within hours of Trump's statement, drones hit Kharkiv, among them an energy site near the edge of the city, and more than a dozen people were hurt, PBS reported. According to the BBC, Zelensky said Russian forces struck several energy targets around the country during the night and into Monday morning.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov would not say whether Russia had signed on. "Contacts are continuing," he told journalists, the BBC reported. Both outlets said the Kremlin on Monday offered a one-day halt in fighting so Ukraine could vote to replace Zelensky. The BBC noted that Zelensky has sought a 60-day pause for a presidential election, and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had not earned a break from the fighting.

On Friday, Trump moved to lift American wartime restrictions on diesel from Russia, aiming to bring down fuel costs at home, PBS reported. Andrew Weiss of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told PBS the first month's shipments would total roughly 2.2 million barrels, an amount he said was too small to matter for prices. The BBC likewise described broad skepticism that the volumes would ease costs.

According to PBS, Trump negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner reportedly pressed Ukrainian officials over the weekend to end attacks on Russian gas sites, warning that Washington could halt weapons sales and the flow of intelligence otherwise. Weiss said Ukraine's negotiating team was in talks with the pair in Miami when news broke of a Trump-Putin call and the diesel purchase.

European officials answered with more penalties on Moscow. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers approved the biggest one-time addition to the bloc's sanctions list since the invasion began, PBS reported.

The BBC reported that pro-government Russian media have called the announced truce beneficial to Moscow, arguing it would chiefly limit Ukraine's long-range drone campaign against Russian refineries, which has inflicted heavy damage and led to fuel shortfalls inside Russia.

Compiled by True News from reporting by PBS NewsHour and BBC News. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/91