US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to an immediate ceasefire covering energy infrastructure, writing on his Truth Social platform that both sides had signed on and warning them not to violate it, according to VG.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded shortly afterwards that the announcement was new to him, telling Axios he had not been informed in advance. He said Ukraine would back an energy truce provided Russia does the same, and that Kyiv is waiting for details from Washington.
Russian authorities have not commented on Trump's claim, VG reports.
Why it matters
If it holds, a halt to strikes on energy targets would be the first meaningful break in a campaign that has hit both countries' power and fuel systems hard. Ukraine has sent drones at Russian oil refineries, while Russia has pounded Ukrainian generating capacity, leaving long and repeated outages as winter approaches.
The claim also lands in the middle of a sharp public dispute between Trump and Zelensky, and days before the US midterm elections on 3 November, where fuel prices have become a central political problem for the White House.
Zelensky says a power plant was hit hours later
Within hours of Trump's post, Zelensky wrote on X that Russia had struck a Ukrainian power plant on Sunday evening, according to ABC Nyheter. That account directly undercuts the idea that a truce was already in force.
Zelensky has previously signalled openness to limiting attacks on Russian energy sites, most recently in September, on the condition that partners secure an arrangement in which Moscow stops hitting critical Ukrainian infrastructure. VG notes he has also said Ukraine would be ready to hold elections if the US and other allies could guarantee the country's security.
On Sunday he went further, telling ABC's "This Week" that he would call a vote if Russia agreed to a full 60-day ceasefire. "Tell Putin: give us two months, 60 days of a complete ceasefire — 60 days — and we will organise elections," he said.
Analysts doubt Putin is on board
Iver B. Neumann, director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told VG he believes Trump is acting out of desperation ahead of the midterms and will say whatever it takes to convince voters he is addressing petrol and diesel prices in the US.
Asked whether Putin had genuinely agreed, Neumann said it is impossible to know but that he doubts it.
Neumann also argued a truce is not in Russia's military interest. Putin has said repeatedly that a pause would let the weaker side regroup, and from Moscow's standpoint that weaker side is Ukraine. Neumann reads Zelensky's election offer as a tactical move aimed at showing that Putin and the Russians are not interested in genuine peace talks.
Jørn Holm-Hansen, a researcher at OsloMet who works on Ukraine and political conditions there, told VG that Zelensky's election proposal came the day after Trump's fierce attack on him and looks fairly desperate. He said the speed of the reaction shows a leader acting on impulse, which he described as a sign of short-term thinking.
Holm-Hansen added that Zelensky is nonetheless skilled at reading signals from the partners he wants to keep, namely the US. He said Zelensky has likely given up on Trump funding the war generously, but that the loss of intelligence cooperation is probably his biggest fear.
Neumann pointed out that the willingness to hold elections is popular at home in Ukraine, where Zelensky's circle has faced corruption problems. He said Zelensky has impressed observers by delivering on what he promised and has been an honest politician who nonetheless played a tactical game — but that he is now taking a real risk, which suggests he is under pressure.
Pressure from Washington on two fronts
Trump told reporters outside the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday that it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, VG reports.
The Financial Times, citing European officials, reports that the US is now threatening to halt the procurement system that supplies Ukraine with weapons unless Kyiv stops attacking Russian energy infrastructure. Aftenposten also carries that report.
On Friday, Trump announced a separate arrangement allowing Russia to export millions of tonnes of diesel, a move Ukrainian authorities reacted to strongly.
US fuel prices have climbed partly as a result of the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has argued for some time that Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil installations, rather than the Hormuz situation, are what is driving prices up.
What to watch: whether Moscow confirms or denies the ceasefire claim, and whether Ukraine's reported strike on a power plant on Sunday night is followed by more attacks on either side.
