Ukrainian president earlier rejected US call for Kyiv to stop bombing oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end attacks on energy infrastructure

Donald Trump has announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, apparently without consulting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the deal to stop long-range attacks was “news to me”.

In a social media post, the US president claimed the two sides had reached an agreement. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” he wrote on Truth Social.

He offered no further details. Zelenskyy said he was surprised by the announcement but would agree to it if Vladimir Putin did the same. “If President Trump negotiated it with Putin – please tell us when the ceasefire begins. We are ready and we will accept it,” the Ukrainian president told the Axios website.

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[–] 83 points 5 days ago (17 children)

He offered no further details. Zelenskyy said he was surprised by the announcement but would agree to it if Vladimir Putin did the same. “If President Trump negotiated it with Putin – please tell us when the ceasefire begins. We are ready and we will accept it,” the Ukrainian president told the Axios website.

Zelenskyy shouldn't offer to accept a Trump-brokered deal so readily given that Trump has no incentive to negotiate with Ukraine's best interests in mind.

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  • [–] 103 points 5 days ago (1 child)

    It won’t matter, Putin won’t accept it anyways. This has happened many times before. Zelenskyy knows how to deal with Trump.

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  • [–] 15 points 4 days ago (4 children)

    No, this is a good play. It's all bullshit anyway, but it buys Zelenskyy some goodwill if he plays along. It also makes Trump look stupid when he doesn't follow up. There's literally no downsides. The only downside would be if it's real and Putin actually follows it. Neither of these would happen though.

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  • [–] 11 points 4 days ago (2 children)

    The only downside would be if it's real and Putin actually follows it.

    Not sure how this would be a downside, Ukraine would be happy to get an energy ceasefire going into the cold months

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  • [–] 4 points 4 days ago

    Fair. Maybe it wouldn't be. Strategically, I think it'd be a negative for them though. They've had much more luck striking energy targets than Russia has. I can see the argument for it being a win no matter what too though.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 days ago

    It would help Ukraine if it were real. And it would damage Ukraine to refuse outright. So a conditional acceptance is the least bad choice. But I'm sure Zelenskyy knew that Putin would keep bombing, since that's what he's going to do until his owners decide he's no longer useful.

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  • [+] -19 points 5 days ago (8 children)

    Zelensky is in a desperate position :(

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  • [–] 51 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

    not really? He knows Putin won't follow it. He knows he can say "sure thing" knowing Putin wont' follow it to appease trumps bullying sense of power and finally, he has the upper hand with deep strikes on energy infra in Russia right now which he isn't going to have to stop because Putin won't. So really this is just useless posturing by Trump and he knows it.

    Edit: FWIW, Putin bombed Ukraine's energy infrastructure within 24 hours of Trumps little "deal."

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  • [–] 41 points 5 days ago (5 children)

    Nah, he's just calling trump's bluff. He knows Russia will never honor it.

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  • [–] 12 points 5 days ago (4 children)

    I hope so, I trust the guy, smarter than me :)

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