Trump Claims Russia-Ukraine Energy Truce, Kyiv Awaits Confirmation

On Oct. 11, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that an energy ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine was effective immediately and both parties had agreed, writing do not break it. A Russian attack on a Kyiv energy facility was reported shortly before the post. Trump had made a similar energy ceasefire claim in September that turned out to be untrue. Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Axios reporter Barak Ravid the announcement was news to him. He said if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire Ukraine will agree; if President Trump negotiated it with Putin, please tell us when the ceasefire begins, we are ready and we will accept it. A senior Ukrainian official close to Zelenskyy told the Financial Times that Kyiv had no information about the truce. Neither side had publicly confirmed the deal. Trump announced lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports on Friday; Zelenskyy called the decision weak. Russia agreed to supply diesel to the US and international markets under a separate arrangement. On Saturday Trump said Zelenskyy should damn well stop hitting Russian refineries and suggested Ukraine needed a new leader. Oleksandr Merezhko said Putin's plan is to decapitate Zelenskiy and remove him as a wartime leader and that Trump is siding with Putin, and that we are moving to a new Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and to a world of strongmen and spheres of influence.