Kyiv says Russia hit energy targets despite Trump truce

Russia hit at least six energy targets during a night and morning of deadly airstrikes across Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, adding this showed Moscow had no interest in an energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump.

Under ⁠pressure over high energy prices ahead of US midterm elections next month, Mr Trump declared that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to hit each other's energy systems.

"It is increasingly evident that Russia is unwilling to accept an energy ceasefire proposed by the United States and intends to continue its terrorist air attacks against our people and communities," Mr Zelensky said on X.

"This is what happens when Russia sees the prospect of higher revenues for its war machine," he added.

In earlier comments by video link to a conference in Poland, Mr Zelensky identified two of the targets as a gas facility and a petrol station, both hit by Russian drones.

Mr Trump announced the purported energy ceasefire days after unveiling a deal to buy diesel from Russia, which Mr Zelensky has criticised as a reversal of years of Western policy aimed at isolating Russia's economy.

The US president, for his part, has called on Ukrainians to unseat Mr Zelensky in an election - strong remarks about a relationship between the two leaders that has been strained since Mr Trump returned to power in 2025.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee described the comments as "concerning".

Ms McEntee is joining other EU foreign ministers for a meeting in Luxembourg amid the escalating dispute between the Trump administration and Ukraine.

President Trump's announcement was the second time within a few weeks that he has declared an energy ceasefire ‌without confirmation from the two warring sides.

Ukraine's European allies voiced ⁠scepticism of any such agreement, spoke strongly in support of Kyiv and approved the largest set of EU sanctions since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Kyiv has increasingly targeted Russian oil refineries and logistics with long-range strikes in recent months, its answer to more than four-and-a-half years of relentless Russian attacks on its cities, including persistent campaigns to knock out Ukraine's power and heat in successive winters.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine had carried out no attacks on Russian refineries overnight and was willing to agree an energy ceasefire, but only if Russia abided by it.

He also said elections, suspended during wartime, could be held in Ukraine if Moscow agreed to a full ceasefire for 60 days.

Russia, for its ‌part, said talks were ongoing about a possible energy ceasefire and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said further information would be revealed in due course.

But he rejected Mr Zelensky's proposal for a full 60-day truce.

"In the Kremlin, both President (Vladimir) Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated that we do not want a ceasefire," said ⁠Mr Peskov.

"We want long-term peace and are prepared to do everything possible to achieve it," he added.

In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, rescue workers picked through wreckage of shattered buildings.

The body of a dead civilian lay beneath debris, lit up by floodlights in the nighttime dark.

Nataliia Minka said she had just made it to a ⁠shelter when a missile struck nearby. ‌

She and her child had seen what they believed to be a missile hitting a nearby power station.

"Ten minutes had passed since they promised they wouldn't target energy facilities," she said.

"It’s so hard to describe how a child was lying there, already covered up and the father was running around her, crying and screaming," she said.

"It’s so terrifying - it’s impossible to get through something like this," she added.

After nighttime attacks killed at least three people in Kharkiv, further strikes took place in the morning, hitting residential buildings and wounding at ⁠least 22 more people, municipal officials said.

At least three other people were reported killed yesterday in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Russia began its latest strike campaign on Ukraine's grid two weeks ago, already causing daily, hours long power cuts ⁠in Kyiv, affecting the capital's water and sewage systems and twice bringing its underground trains to an abrupt halt.

To maintain pressure on Moscow, European Union foreign ministers added 1,569 new names to their sanctions list of banned individuals and businesses.

"This is the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war. Europe is again showing a united front. More than half are connected to the production chain for ballistic missiles," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.

Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Moscow "will only negotiate seriously under pressure, which is why we are sticking to our sanctions against Russia".

"Following Moscow's ruthless attacks on Ukraine's civilian energy infrastructure, we must actually tighten them further," he added.

Mr Trump has increasingly blamed Kyiv's attacks on Russian refineries for surging global costs for fuel, especially diesel, which has hit record prices in the United States since he launched his military campaign against Iran.

On Saturday, he said Mr Zelensky had "better damn well stop" attacking Russian refineries.

A person familiar with the situation said the US had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and supplies ‌of weapons, which Washington no longer provides to Kyiv but allows European countries to buy on its behalf.