Zelenskiy Offers Energy Truce: Halt Refinery Strikes if Russia Stops Attacks

KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukraine is ready to halt its strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow stops striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure, offering a reciprocal Zelenskiy energy truce that he said could take effect “as early as today.”

FAKTA: Zelenskiy energy truce offer

• What: Zelenskiy offered to stop Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure
• When: Announced Sunday, October 11, 2026
• Condition: “Any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees,” Zelenskiy said
• Trigger: The offer followed US President Donald Trump’s demand on Saturday that Ukraine stop the refinery campaign and his announcement of a diesel supply deal with Russia
• Also Sunday: Zelenskiy said he would hold elections in Ukraine if Russia agrees to a 60-day ceasefire

Reciprocal steps, real guarantees

“Ukraine will be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskiy wrote on X on Sunday. “It is possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not want to do so.”

“The real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone,” he added, without referring directly to Trump’s remarks.

The Zelenskiy energy truce offer restates a position Kyiv has taken before. In April, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had conveyed an offer of a reciprocal ceasefire on energy infrastructure to Moscow through US mediators; Russia said it favoured an overall peace deal instead. Last month, Trump claimed Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an energy truce, but Zelenskiy said Kyiv would only support it with genuine Russian commitment, and the Kremlin did not confirm an agreement. The following day, Russia struck petrol stations in Kyiv and Ukraine said it had hit a Russian oil refinery.

A response to Washington

On Saturday, Trump said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president,” suggesting Zelenskiy had not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the United States. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,” Trump said, adding of the refinery strikes: “He better damn well stop.”

The remarks came a day after Trump announced a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel from Russia — more than 300,000 tonnes immediately, 500,000 tonnes next month and a further million tonnes “immediately thereafter” — in an attempt to address fuel prices ahead of next month’s US midterm elections.

Zelenskiy described the diesel agreement as a “gift” to Putin and said Russia had “expressed its thanks” by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, where the death toll rose to 23 people, including four children, according to regional officials.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pushed back on Trump’s comments, writing on X late Saturday that Zelenskiy was leading the country through a war for its independence and that “he has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide.”

Elections offer tied to ceasefire

In a separate development on Sunday, Zelenskiy told ABC’s This Week that he would hold elections in Ukraine if Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire. “Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections,” he said.

European leaders rallied behind Zelenskiy over the weekend. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with him on Saturday evening and “reiterated his complete solidarity,” Downing Street said. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said suspending sanctions on Russian diesel “provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war,” adding: “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t.”

Negotiations between Ukrainian and American delegations in Miami were cut short on Friday after the diesel deal was announced; a Ukrainian MP said the Kyiv delegation “refused to continue” talks planned for Saturday.

Read more world news on the Watan News world desk.