Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid showed Moscow's disregard for the ceasefire on attacks against energy facilities declared by U.S. President Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky has said. Trump announced on Sunday a truce in which Kyiv and Moscow agreed to halt attacks on each other's energy infrastructure, which appears to have caught both sides by surprise.
Trump wants Kyiv and Moscow to stop attacking energy sites as high fuel prices are a sensitive political issue for Americans going into the U.S. midterm elections. Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has said Kyiv was prepared to honor the truce but that Russia had continued with its strikes on energy sites. He said Wednesday on X that Russia had launched missiles and drones against energy infrastructure overnight in what he described as "ostentatious disrespect toward the United States." It comes as Trump faces condemnation for a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to waive sanctions and let Russia export diesel to the U.S. to ease pressure on prices at the pump.
"President Trump's diesel deal with Vladimir Putin will do almost nothing for American drivers before the November 3 midterms, but it gives the Kremlin fresh revenue to keep bombing Ukrainian cities, resulting in massive civilian casualties," Razom We Stand, a Ukrainian group lobbying for sanctions on Russian energy, told Newsweek. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment. Trump's unilateral declaration of an "energy ceasefire" appears to have gone unheeded by Putin, according to Ukraine, which said it had refrained from striking Russian facilities.
After Trump's statement on Truth Social, Russia attacked Kharkiv's CHP-5 power plant and carried out strikes on Ukraine's electricity and transmission facilities, Zelensky said. Overnight Tuesday, Russia launched 39 ballistic missiles and 120 drones against energy sites in Kyiv, the wider Kyiv region, and the eastern oblast of Kharkiv, Zelensky added. Authorities said at least three people were killed and 22 injured in a Russian strike that hit a residential building and power plants elsewhere in the capital.
Zelensky said Russia has continued to pound Ukraine's energy grid, damaging 26 power facilities, four oil and gas sites and leaving at least 600,000 people without power. "Russia does not consider the American President's statements to be strong," Zelensky said. Russian state media have welcomed the diesel deal as a boost for the Kremlin, which is likely to exploit it to further its interests in Ukraine.
Business newspaper Vedomosti reported that the deal would not stabilize ties with Russia or resolve differences over the war, but it does show that Trump was prepared to do business with Moscow. "Such cooperation can be beneficial to the two states," Alexey Naumov, a political scientist who runs the Telegram channel Vneshpol, told the outlet. The Russian attacks come as Trump faces accusations of boosting the coffers of Russia’s war machine with the deal to ease sanctions and allow Russian diesel into the U.S.
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