US President Donald Trump claimed Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure and called on the two countries to end their “stupid” war.
President Trump’s comments on Monday came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces have attacked at least six Ukrainian energy facilities since the U.S. president declared a ceasefire on Sunday.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“Well, they agreed,” Trump told reporters, referring to Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Because I said, ‘You agree.’ So they agreed, because I said I agreed.”
Asked about the Russian attack, President Trump said, “Well, we’ll have to look and judge, because there were violations on both sides.”
The US president has called the war, which began with Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a “disaster” and claimed, without providing evidence, that at least 32,000 people have been killed this month alone.
“All I know is that Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Putin have to come together and end that stupid war,” he said.
Kyiv was blind
President Trump blindsided Kiev and its European allies when he announced a purported energy ceasefire on Sunday. The announcement came two days after he temporarily eased U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel, a move that drew anger in Europe and Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said this would reverse years of Western efforts to isolate Russia’s economy and would only embolden Putin.
Lawmakers from both major U.S. political parties also said Diesel’s decision appeared to violate U.S. law. Several Republican lawmakers objected to the move, saying it would override legislation that President Trump himself signed to tighten restrictions on Moscow.
President Zelenskyy said on Monday that Ukraine supports an energy ceasefire and did not carry out overnight attacks on Russian refineries. He said Kiev was willing to sign “a letter of guarantee to confirm that it can be trusted.”
But he said it was “increasingly clear” that the Russian government would not respond.
“Today alone, Russians attacked six energy facilities in Ukraine. Thirty-three people were injured across the country,” President Zelenskiy said on social media. “This is what happens when Russia sees the prospect of increased revenue for its war machine.”
But Russia has refused to suspend the fighting, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowing to proceed with military operations.
“I don’t think he deserves a break,” he said of Zelenskiy. “I don’t think we will accept guarantees or promises again,” he said, adding that Russia would continue to pursue the goals of what it called “special military operations” in Ukraine.
us midterm elections
Meanwhile, President Trump has portrayed Ukraine, not Russia, as the main obstacle to peace. He said Putin was more enthusiastic about a deal than Zelensky and called on Ukrainians to vote for him to step down, an unusually testy turn in relations that have been strained since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, D.C., said President Trump had previously announced an agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but it never materialized.
“He’s said he wants to protect American industries, including farmers and ranchers, and to do that he needs to lower prices. But he seems to think there’s a deal, but no one is sure there’s actually a deal,” Fisher said.
According to our correspondent, the announcement appears to be driven by President Trump’s desire to lower diesel prices before the US midterm elections on November 3.
Most polls predict that Republicans will lose control of Congress as voters grow increasingly frustrated, especially with rising gas prices.
An Associated Press/University of Chicago poll released Oct. 1 found that 65% of American adults blame the White House for the high cost of living, specifically President Trump’s tariff policies and the new war against Iran.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s European allies expressed skepticism about an energy ceasefire and approved the biggest European Union sanctions since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The bloc’s foreign ministers added some 1,569 individuals and companies to the bloc’s sanctions list to maintain pressure on Russia.
“Russia will only seriously negotiate if we put pressure on it. That’s why we will stick to sanctions against Russia,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in Berlin.
