A proposal by US President Donald Trump for an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine appeared to be gaining ground this week when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “ready” to make an agreement. Trump has blamed the Ukraine-Russia war for the current record rise in diesel prices in the United States, which has become a major issue as the country approaches midterm elections in November. Trump and Zelenskyy met for 40 minutes on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York to discuss efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
In comments to reporters at the UN headquarters, Zelenskyy said Kyiv would halt strikes on Russian energy facilities if Moscow stopped targeting Ukraine’s energy systems as well. The Trump-Zelenskyy meeting comes as a barrage of attacks on energy facilities by both Russia and Ukraine continues unabated, raising questions over whether such a truce could indeed be reached – and whether it could hold. This year, Ukraine has massively expanded strikes on Russia’s oil industry, using long-range drones to strike refineries and other energy facilities at sites up to 3,000km (1,865 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
The aim is to disrupt Russia’s energy industry, which it relies on to fund its war effort. A September 20 attack forced the Moscow oil refinery, which processed about 230,000 barrels of crude a day in 2024, to halt crude processing, the news agency reported, citing industry sources. Also this month, Ukraine launched its deepest-ever attack into Russia, targeting two Arctic gas condensate facilities more than 3,000km (1,865 miles) from its border.
On Wednesday, Russia slammed jet-powered drones into two petrol stations and other sites in Kyiv, killing one and injuring at least seven people. Ukrainian oil company Ukrnafta said Russia had hit one of its petrol stations in the capital, the sixth such facility attacked in recent weeks. Zelenskyy also warned in a post on Telegram on Tuesday that Russia was planning “a new massive attack” against his country.
A bilateral energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia would involve a mutual halt of attacks on all energy-related targets in each other’s countries. What remains unclear is whether both sides can agree on the preconditions for it being set in place. The Kremlin previously welcomed the US proposal for an energy moratorium while also calling for such measures to be extended to Russian seaborne energy exports and sanctions.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, “Both the US and Ukraine want to see this senseless Russian war ended before winter.” But he also insisted that there could not possibly be any discussion of easing sanctions against Russia “when Ukrainians live every day under the threat of missile and drone attacks”. This week, Trump expressed concern about the extensive damage done by Ukraine to Russia’s fuel-processing capacity, which he said is stoking diesel prices and “hurting the world”. On Sunday, he asked Ukraine to stop hitting Russian diesel refineries in particular.
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