Ukraine, Trump: ‘An energy truce? Putin wants it more than Zelensky’
Russia and Ukraine “have agreed” on an energy truce “because I told them they had to”, insists the US President
“I think Putin wants a deal more than Zelensky does.” This was stated by US President Donald Trump whilst speaking briefly to the press at the White House before leaving for Ohio. Trump added that we must ensure that ‘Zelensky does it’. ‘I think they both want to reach an agreement but don’t know how to go about it. We must ensure they do so.” So said the US President regarding the energy truce – that is, a halt to energy infrastructure projects in the two warring countries – which he claimed to have proposed to Putin and which the Russian leader had accepted (a claim not confirmed by the Kremlin, which merely referred to ongoing contacts).
Russia and Ukraine “have agreed” to an energy truce “because I told them they had to”, insisted Trump, speaking to journalists at the White House before leaving for Ohio. There have been breaches of the truce by ‘both sides’, the US president added, reiterating that Putin and Zelensky ‘must reach an agreement’.
The Ukrainian president is sending conciliatory messages to Washington, despite Trump having said in recent days that the country needs a new president. “The United States certainly has the strength and the capacity to ensure ‘silence’, a genuine and reliable de-escalation, a genuine and reliable halt to Russia; there must be real progress towards this,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his evening address, emphasising that Ukraine “is continuing constructive discussions with the US President’s team” and that “everyone in America knows our position, and many support it”. ‘Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire,’ he added, ‘and we are the ones who have repeatedly proposed it. Russia must take steps towards this ceasefire, but at the moment there are air raid alerts and air strikes all day long.’
On the battlefield
Meanwhile, the fighting continues unabated. Russian forces launched a large-scale missile attack on Kharkiv overnight, killing three people and injuring at least eleven, including a rescue worker. Three bodies were recovered from the rubble, the city’s mayor said. Three other people trapped under the rubble had been rescued earlier.
The governor of the Kharkiv Oblast, Oleh Syniehubov, stated that Russian forces had used 10 Banderol-type missiles in the attack, striking civilian infrastructure. In the Kholodnohirskyi district, a rocket struck a four-storey residential block, destroying an entire floor. At least ten nearby private homes were damaged, Syniehubov said.
