Trump Announces an Energy Ceasefire Nobody Briefed Kyiv On, After Telling Ukraine to Pick a New Leader

On Saturday, 10 October, President Donald Trump told reporters that Ukraine should change its president. On Sunday morning he announced a ceasefire on energy attacks that the Ukrainian president said he had not been told about. Within hours Zelensky said Russian strikes on power plants had continued.

Friday brought the diesel deal and a Treasury licence for Russian-origin diesel. It is the second energy truce Trump has announced in a month. Our earlier report covers the first hours after the announcement; this piece covers what followed.

Zelensky accepted the ceasefire on conditions, offered refineries for power plants, and tied elections to a 60-day total ceasefire. Witkoff and Kushner reportedly postponed their Moscow trip. Von der Leyen backed Zelensky’s position in public.

On Friday, 9 October, Trump announced the diesel deal on Truth Social, saying prices for Americans and the world “will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST,” according to Time’s account of the sequence. Zelensky called the decision “weak” and said it would generate “millions, billions” in extra revenue for Vladimir Putin, as Time reported.

On Saturday, after Zelensky’s criticism, Trump said: “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.” NBC News reported the remark and noted that Trump also blamed Kyiv’s refinery strikes for the US diesel shortage. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X that Zelensky “has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide.”

On Sunday, 11 October, Trump posted on Truth Social: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine.” He added: “Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” NBC reported that there was no immediate confirmation from Moscow.

Zelensky told Axios the announcement “was news for me,” and added: “if Russians agree to an energy ceasefire Ukraine will agree,” according to NBC. On X he said Ukraine supports the ceasefire and that it is important for Russia to support it as well. Later he reported that Russian strikes had hit power plants after the announcement.

On ABC’s “This Week,” Zelensky said: “First of all, with all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader.” He said he had asked Trump’s team to “please tell Putin to give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections,” as Euronews reported. On X he wrote: “Don’t attack us. Don’t kill our children. We will stop attacking your diesel. And I think it’s a fair deal.”

After a call with Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X that the Commission “fully supported” his ceasefire calls, the Kyiv Independent reported. She said the EU would release funding this week to “strengthen Ukraine’s defences and protect its skies.” Zelensky put the sum at about €3 billion.

APA, citing unnamed sources, reported early on 12 October that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had postponed their planned trip to Moscow until they know whether Kyiv and the Europeans will accept a new proposal for the Russian side.

The sequence ran in four steps: the diesel deal on Friday, Zelensky’s criticism, Trump’s call for a new leader on Saturday, the ceasefire on Sunday. Time recorded that Trump made a similar ceasefire claim on 14 September and that both countries kept hitting each other’s energy sites afterwards.

Trump’s post says “Both parties have agreed.” Zelensky told Axios the news reached him from the announcement. NBC reported no confirmation from Moscow.

Trump’s message names no terms. Zelensky’s names them: refineries for power plants. Kyiv set out the same exchange in mid-September, when Ukraine said it would halt refinery strikes only if Russia stopped attacking energy grids, ports and grain corridors, Euronews reported at the time.

Zelensky answered the call for a new leader with a condition: 60 days without fire, then a vote. Only a Russian halt makes that vote possible.

Moscow has yet to confirm the energy ceasefire in its own words. Zelensky has said Ukraine will accept it if Russia does. Zelensky reported strikes on power plants after the announcement, so the next reports from Kyiv on whether they stop are the first test. APA’s sources tie the Witkoff and Kushner trip to a new proposal for the Russian side, so a rescheduled date would show whether Washington has one.

If Russia stays silent while Kyiv accepts, the ceasefire remains a Truth Social post, as the first one did.