President Trump announced an immediate energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday, saying both sides agreed, hours after a public spat with Zelensky over dealmaking.
President Donald Trump posted Sunday morning that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy industries, framing the step as effective at once and warning both sides not to break it.
Breitbart reported the announcement landed hours after a Saturday exchange in which Trump, speaking from the White House lawn, suggested Ukrainians replace President Volodymyr Zelensky with a leader “who can make a deal.” The White House had not yet spelled out the full scope of the energy pause when the post went up.
Trump put the claim in plain terms on Truth Social.
"Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!"
Energy targets have grown central as the front line settled into a grinding stalemate. For months Kyiv has pushed long-range drone and missile strikes against Russian refining and export sites, arguing oil revenue funds Moscow’s war machine. Ukraine’s Defence Ministry claimed earlier this month that those strikes had taken 51 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity offline, naming damage tied to facilities in places including Perm, Saratov, Syzran, Ust-Luga, and Yaroslavl.
The Sunday post followed a Friday arrangement between Washington and Moscow that would let hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Russian oil, and eventually millions of tonnes, enter global markets. The stated aim was lower pump prices. Zelensky sharply criticized that deal, saying it would swell the coffers of Russia’s war effort and enable further attacks on Ukraine.
Trump’s Saturday remarks on the White House lawn sharpened the dispute. He floated the idea that Ukrainian voters should install someone ready to close a deal. Zelensky answered Sunday morning in an ABC interview, insisting leadership is a matter for Ukrainian society even in wartime.
"First of all, with all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader. Yes, we are in war, and to do elections is really difficult... but the main thing is to get security infrastructure for this, to give the possibility for people to vote."
Ukrainian elections have been cancelled since 2024 under martial law. Zelensky tied any vote to security conditions and a broader pause.
"I know that Putin wanted very much to change the president in Ukraine, I understand it. And if President Trump really wants to have some changes during elections, I also shared this with his team: Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections. Of course, we will be ready for any choice of our people, exactly Ukrainian people."
Zelensky also cast himself as ready for limited steps short of a final settlement, while pressing Trump to restrain Russian strikes on Ukrainian power and fuel systems.
"I said it to President Trump... to his team and to his people several times: we want peace, we are ready for [a] ceasefire, we are ready to begin from any kind of steps of de-escalation."
He added a direct ask on energy targets.
"And if the Russians want us not [to] attack their diesel, their refineries and etc., we are asking President Trump, give them signal not attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine."
That line matches the core of Trump’s Sunday claim: a mutual halt on energy hits as a first move. Territory remains unresolved. Moscow still demands Ukraine cede the entirety of the Donbas, including ground Russian forces have not taken. Kyiv has refused.
National Review reported that Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed in a call to an immediate energy and infrastructure cease-fire, plus technical talks on a Black Sea maritime cease-fire and a path toward a full cease-fire and permanent peace. A White House readout described the sequence as the opening move toward ending the war, with implementation talks to follow quickly.
The same account noted Ukraine had agreed the prior week to a 30-day cease-fire concept after U.S. talks, with Washington resuming military aid. Zelensky’s public response cast Putin’s position as a rejection of a full halt and called for continued pressure, sanctions, and aid, plus proof in the form of an end to strikes on civilian infrastructure.
Trump’s Truth Social post did not publish a joint communiqué from Kyiv and Moscow. The White House had not released a detailed fact sheet on definitions, duration, monitoring, or exceptions when Breitbart filed its account. The administration has brokered meetings between the sides; the energy pause is the clearest public claim yet that both parties signed onto a concrete, immediate limit.
For American readers the practical stakes are straightforward. Energy strikes raise global fuel risk and keep the war expensive. A narrow cease-fire on power plants, refineries, and related infrastructure does not settle Donbas or end the fighting. It does test whether either side will hold a limited bargain when the alternative is more damaged grids, higher prices, and another winter of attrition.
Peace that starts with enforced limits on energy targets is still peace work, and voters can judge who keeps the deal and who blows it up.
