Trump suggests neither side had agreed to his energy ceasefire before he announced it

The energy ceasefire President Trump announced on Sunday was declared before either belligerent had signed on to it, by the president's own account on Monday.

Trump announced on social media Sunday morning that Russia and Ukraine had agreed, effective immediately, to stop attacking each other's energy infrastructure. Kyiv said it learned of the supposed agreement from the media. Moscow declined to say whether it backs the proposal. Asked about that gap as he left the White House on Monday evening for a rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Trump answered that the two sides agreed because he said they agreed. He added that he believes both want a deal but do not know how to reach one, that he thinks President Vladimir Putin is ready to settle, and that he has doubts about President Volodymyr Zelensky.

On the ground, the ceasefire exists on one side. Zelensky said Tuesday that Ukraine has carried out no strikes on Russian oil refineries or energy targets in the two days since Trump's announcement, while Russia struck a thermal power plant in Kharkiv, hit gas production facilities and a gas station, and sent drones against civilian targets including a high rise apartment building in Kyiv. The Kharkiv plant strike came hours after the announcement and killed three people and wounded nine, including children, as of Monday. Zelensky said Ukraine will honor the halt if Russia does, and that if Moscow wants Ukrainian strikes on its refineries to stop, it must stop striking Ukraine's energy system. He also urged Washington to make sure Moscow respects any agreement it is said to have joined.

The stakes are not abstract. Russia has spent the autumn campaigning against Ukraine's power generation and grid ahead of winter, and Zelensky says Ukrainians already face daily power cuts. Ukraine's answer has been long range strikes on Russian refineries, which the Trump administration blames in part for record diesel prices. Trump has paired the ceasefire push with a deal to buy Russian diesel, a move that angered Kyiv and sat oddly with existing sanctions, and with pressure on Ukraine that included a call over the weekend for new leadership in Kyiv.

The European Union moved the other way on Monday, approving new sanctions aimed at Russia's military industrial complex and urging Washington to keep pressure on Moscow. For now the announced truce is a statement from Washington, Ukrainian restraint, and continued Russian strikes, and whether it becomes an agreement depends on a confirmation from Moscow that has not come.