A ceasefire agreement on energy infrastructure attacks, which President Donald Trump announced as having been reached between Russia and Ukraine, broke down within the hour. In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump also attributed the worldwide increase in diesel prices to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Approximately an hour after Trump's post, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X to dispute the claim, stating that no such arrangement had been reached regarding a Ukrainian commitment to spare Russian energy infrastructure from attack. Trump had posted that Russia had also committed to the same terms, and attributed the rise in global diesel prices primarily to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine rather than to Iran.
Zelenskyy, for his part, stated that Kyiv had put forward a proposal for its partners to broker a deal with Russia to end attacks on energy and power infrastructure. He noted, however, that Ukraine would only suspend its own strikes if those partners could guarantee Russia would genuinely honour such an arrangement first, and expressed doubt that Russia would comply with any agreement reached.
A European news outlet reported that the deal had not been verified by either party. Before Trump's post, he had not spoken to the question of whether Russia would stop targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
Attacks on Russian energy infrastructure by Ukrainian forces have been carried out over a period of several months. Ukrainian authorities have described the oil refineries as valid military objectives, citing Russia's petroleum revenues as a source of funding for its war effort, according to one broadcaster.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov attributed the disruption in fuel markets to instability across the Gulf region, according to media reports. The same broadcaster described how climbing energy prices could affect the electoral prospects of Republican candidates, and noted that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other administration officials have attributed the pressure on oil prices to Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian refinery infrastructure.
On Friday, a television network reported that diesel prices across the United States reached an all-time high of $6.06 per gallon, coinciding with the assertion. Twelve months prior, the national average stood at $3.71, with midterm elections scheduled for November, while Zelenskyy was told he needed to fulfil one condition.
Speaking to reporters in Ireland on a Sunday, Trump called on a particular individual to halt oil extraction activities in Russia, as relayed by a television news organisation. On the preceding day, Trump linked higher petrol prices to tensions with Iran and forecast that costs would drop noticeably after the midterm elections, a news outlet reported.
