Kremlin Offers Ukraine One Day of No Strikes for an Election, After Zelensky Asked for Sixty

On Monday 12 October the Kremlin answered Volodymyr Zelensky’s election offer with a number: one day. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia will not agree to the 60-day ceasefire Zelensky proposed on Sunday as the price of a presidential vote, and that Vladimir Putin would instead be ready to order no strikes on Ukraine on election day itself, according to Meduza, citing TASS.

The same morning Zelensky told the Warsaw Security Forum that Russian drones had kept hitting Ukrainian energy sites since Donald Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” on Sunday. Our earlier report covers the announcement and Zelensky’s first reaction. This piece covers Moscow’s reply.

Peskov rejected a 60-day ceasefire and offered a pause on election day only. Moscow has not confirmed the energy ceasefire Trump announced. Zelensky says Russian strikes on power infrastructure continued after the announcement and that Ukraine will respond if they do not stop.

On Sunday, 11 October, Zelensky told ABC’s “This Week” that Ukraine would hold elections if Russia agreed to a ceasefire. His words, as the Irish Times reported them: “give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections.” Ukrainian law prohibits elections during wartime, the Irish Times noted.

On Monday Peskov turned down the 60 days. As United24 reported from Reuters, he said that “both President Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated that we do not want a ceasefire.” He added: “We want long-term peace and are prepared to do everything possible to achieve it.”

Then came the exception. If Kyiv really intends to hold elections, Peskov said, the Russian president “will be ready to give the order not to strike Ukraine on election day.” He repeated the point: “Specifically on election day.”

On the energy truce Peskov gave no position. According to Astra, as relayed by United24 in translation, he said: “Contacts are continuing. As soon as we have something to tell you on this subject, we will certainly inform you.”

Zelensky, in a video address to the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday, as Ukrinform reported, said: “Putin doesn’t read Truth Social, and his ‘Shaheds’ follow a different set of instructions.” He set Kyiv’s terms: “If Russia wants us to stop targeting its oil refining and oil exports, it must stop striking our power grid and critical infrastructure.” And he added: “We agree if they agree.”

The Irish Times reported that the strikes since Sunday hit a Kharkiv power plant, a gas production facility and a civilian gas station, and that Zelensky said: “We support it, but I have not heard approval of this proposal from the Russian side.” A Russian drone attack on the village of Pisochyn in Kharkiv district killed three people and injured nine on Sunday evening, according to prosecutors cited by the same report. Ukraine’s air force said it shot down or suppressed 89 of 121 Russian drones overnight; Russia’s defence ministry said it intercepted 151 Ukrainian drones.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas welcomed a pause in principle but, the Irish Times reported, said: “We haven’t yet seen that also Russia will stick to it.”

Zelensky asked for 60 days and Peskov offered one. Ukrainian law prohibits elections during wartime, and the Kremlin’s offer covers one day. Russia has long said that the absence of elections makes Zelensky illegitimate, the Irish Times noted, and Peskov’s answer keeps that argument available while declining the ceasefire that would let a vote happen.

The two truces now on the table have the same structure. Trump’s Sunday post, quoted in our earlier report, said “Both parties have agreed.” On Monday Zelensky said he had not heard approval from Russia, and Peskov said contacts continue. Trump announced a similar pause on 14 September, and the Irish Times reported that it never took effect.

Zelensky’s terms are specific: refineries for power plants. Peskov’s are general: “long-term peace”, with no ceasefire. Moscow has not yet said whether it accepts that trade.

The week’s diesel deal gives the exchange its backdrop. Trump struck a deal on Friday with Putin to import Russian diesel, the Irish Times reported, and Ukrainian and European officials criticised it as funding Russia’s war. Estonian foreign minister Margus Tsahkna said he did not believe the deal “is actually going to change anything” on fuel prices.

The first test is physical: whether Ukrainian reports of strikes on power plants stop in the next days. The second is a Russian statement on the energy truce in its own words; Peskov has promised one when there is “something to tell”. The third is whether Washington, which Zelensky asked to carry his 60-day request to Putin, answers Peskov’s one-day offer.

Until Moscow confirms the energy ceasefire in its own words, it rests on one party’s announcement.