Article contains numerous links not included below.
A rescuer takes shelter amid the threat of another Russian strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine.Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters
Quick Summary
-- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian strikes hit Ukrainian energy infrastructure after President Trump declared an energy ceasefire.
-- Zelensky said Ukraine would halt strikes on Russian oil facilities if Moscow stops its bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
-- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that he could not share comments regarding the announced ceasefire as contacts continued.
This summary was generated with AI and reviewed by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism.
KYIV, Ukraine—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian strikes had hit energy infrastructure across his country hours after President Trump declared an energy ceasefire between the warring sides.
The Russian attacks—including on gas infrastructure, a power plant and a substation—come as the U.S. heaps pressure on Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, and after Trump moved to allow Russia to export diesel to the U.S. in a bid to drive down American prices at the pump.
“Last night, Russian oil refineries were not burning. But at midnight, a Russian jet-powered Shahed struck a gas-production facility in Ukraine,” Zelensky said in an address to the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday. “And there was also a Russian strike on an ordinary gas station, involving several drones.”
Ukraine has long maintained that it would be prepared to halt drone and missile strikes on Russian oil facilities if Moscow stops its bombing campaign against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has already caused widespread power cuts this fall.
Zelensky reiterated that pledge Monday, adding that European and other leaders support that approach. “If Russia wants us to stop our long-range strikes against its oil refineries and oil exports, then Russia must stop its strikes against our energy system and critical infrastructure. And stop killing our people,” he said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that he couldn’t share any comments regarding the announced energy ceasefire as contacts continued, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Overnight, a Russian jet-powered drone attack damaged critical equipment at a gas infrastructure facility in the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian state oil-and-gas company Naftogaz said.
Another attack damaged a power substation in the northern region of Zhytomyr, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told journalists at a European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg.
“No one should believe Putin’s words. Look at his actions instead,” Sybiha said, reiterating Ukraine’s readiness for a reciprocal energy ceasefire.
In an attempt to draw the attention of American decision makers to what he called Russian violations, Zelensky said an effective energy ceasefire could be “a major step toward ending the war” if the U.S. steps in to ensure Russia abides by it.
Expressing his frustration with Ukraine’s campaign against Russian refineries and the continuing war, Trump has called for Zelensky to be replaced as leader.
“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters Saturday, blaming Zelensky for the conflict that Russia started in 2022 and Kyiv’s airstrikes for high diesel prices in the U.S. and worldwide.
Before this year’s war between the U.S. and Iran, the Middle East was the world’s top exporter of diesel, accounting for 19% of global exports last year, according to commodities-tracking service Kpler. North America had a 15% market share and Russia was the third-biggest supplier at 11%.
Disruptions to diesel shipments from Persian Gulf countries, along with attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea refineries, have also contributed to the rise in prices.
In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Zelensky reiterated that it is up to the Ukrainian citizens to choose how and when to vote, adding that he had conveyed to the American side what would be required for an election.
“Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days off. Total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” Zelensky said, adding that security was a priority to hold any vote.
Peskov said President Vladimir Putin would be ready to issue “an order not to launch strikes against Ukraine on election day.”
After Trump’s previous call for elections in Ukraine last December, Zelensky said the country’s security, military participation and legitimate legal framework were required for the process and asked Parliament to work on exploring the possibility of wartime elections. Martial law, in place in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, prohibits the holding of a vote.
Anastasiia Malenko is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal covering the war in Ukraine, focusing on how it has reshaped Ukrainian society. She is based in Kyiv. She previously covered the war as a breaking news correspondent for Reuters and a reporter for the Kyiv Independent, the leading English-language newspaper in Ukraine. Anastasiia graduated from Stanford University with degrees in political science and economics.
Ukrainian and European officials say President Vladimir V. Putin has become emboldened by a lack of Western pushback. The police inspected the damage to a house caused by debris from a shot-down Russian drone in the village of Wyryki-Wola, eastern Poland on Wednesday. Credit... Wojtek Radwanski/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Andrew E. Kramer Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times , Sept. 11, 2025 Updated 8:49 a.m. ET An American factory in western Ukraine. Two European diplomatic compounds and a key Ukrainian government building in Kyiv. And now Poland. Over a roughly three-week period, Russian drones and missiles have struck sites of increasing sensitivity for Ukraine and its Western allies, culminating in the volley of Russian drones that buzzed early Wednesday over Poland, a NATO country. For decades, American and European military planners feared something else: a bolt-from-the-blue assault, like an all-out nuclear strike, from the Soviet Union or ...
A bold Ukrainian operation in Kursk has humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin and upended some of the logic of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Column by Ishaan Tharoor The Washington Post , August 14, 2024 at 12:00 a.m. EDT; see also Ukrainian soldiers pose for a picture as they repair a military vehicle near the Russian border on Sunday. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters) Russia’s Kursk oblast is no stranger to war. In medieval times, the district was overrun by the Mongol horde, and was claimed and ceded down the centuries by Eurasian empires. During World War II, the environs of the city of Kursk became the site of the greatest tank battle in history, as Nazi Germany suffered a grievous strategic defeat at the hands of the bloodied yet unbowed Soviet Union . This past week, Kursk has been the site of the first major invasion of Russian territory since then. This time, it’s not the Nazi war machine rolling in — no matter what Kremlin propagandists insi...
Kyiv’s drones are becoming more efficient against the Russian oil-and-gas industry By Yaroslav Trofimov and Georgi Kantchev The Wall Street Journal , Aug. 25, 2025 11:00 pm ET A fuel depot outside Sochi, Russia, after a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this month. PHOTO: TELEGRAM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The late Sen. John McCain once called Russia “a gas station with nukes.” Now, because of Ukrainian attacks, it must ration fuel. The intensifying Ukrainian drone campaign against Russian refineries has taken some 13% of Russia’s fuel production offline, according to analysts. Sanctions imposed by the West after the 2022 invasion, meanwhile, have limited Moscow’s ability to repair infrastructure and service remaining installations. At the same time, the now frequent disruptions by Ukrainian drones to Russia’s rail networks and airports have forced more Russians to travel by road during their summer holidays, just as fuel demand spiked because o...
Comments
Post a Comment