Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said that he was not aware of the 'energy ceasefire' between his country and Russia that US President Donald Trump announced.
"(The 'energy ceasefire') was news for me. But if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire, Ukraine will agree," he told Axios after Trump's announcement.
Just hours before that, Trump had claimed that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an "energy ceasefire" in their nearly five-year-long war.
"Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" he wrote in a Truth Social post.
This is the second such announcement he made over the past few months, and comes as energy prices are already soaring due to the Russia-Ukraine and Iran-US wars, and their wider impacts on energy production and flows.
If both sides agree to the ceasefire, it would also prove to be a crucial diplomatic breakthrough ahead of the winter months, when there is a spike in energy demand in the West.
The last time Trump had called for a similar halt to attacks on energy infrastructure in the Russia-Ukraine war was last month—a claim that neither side confirmed, after which both sides resumed attacks.
"Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy Targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise! ... The World's Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine war, not Iran," he had written in a Truth Social post at the time.
However, this time, Trump's announcement follows Washington's controversial move earlier this week to buy more diesel from Moscow amid negotiations on ending the war.
"Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter. Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel," he wrote in a Truth Social post on October 10, citing spikes in global fuel prices as the reason.
This angered Ukraine, which called the move "gifts to Putin", and warned that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) temporarily licensing the supply of Russian diesel to the global market was an "investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged".
The very next day, Trump flipped the rhetoric around the fuel crisis again, urging that Zelensky be replaced with "a new president" willing to make decisions to end the war.
Zelensky on Sunday repeated his offer that he would hold elections in Ukraine if Putin agreed to a 60-day ceasefire, adding that strikes on Russian energy infrastructure would stop if Moscow followed suit.
