The announcement from the US President could already be in ruins.
Donald Trump had made a bombshell announcement on Saturday night (Image: Getty)
Donald Trump has been humilated by Vladimir Putin just hours after the US President made a groundbreaking announcement, with Russia launching a huge strike and leaving a power plant engulfed in flames. The President announced on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an immediate “energy ceasefire”, which would see both sides halt attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure. In a dramatic post on Truth Social, he declared: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it! Thank you for your attention to this matter.” But within hours of the announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of continuing its attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure.
He said a power plant in Kyiv was struck by a Russian Shahed drone, causing power outages across a number of districts, before further strikes targeted energy facilities in the Kharkiv region. Mr Zelenskyy stressed that the attacks had taken place “AFTER the President of the United States made his statement about an energy ceasefire”.
The Ukrainian leader had initially said the US President’s announcement was “news to me”, but later confirmed Ukraine was prepared to refrain from striking Russian energy infrastructure if Moscow did the same. Russia has yet to publicly confirm that it agreed to the ceasefire announced by Mr Trump.
Writing on social media, Mr Zelensky said: “Unfortunately, Ukrainian skies have been infested with Russian ‘shaheds’ all day today. There have been glide bomb strikes and strikes on our energy infrastructure too. A power plant in Kharkiv was attacked this evening.”
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The apparent continuation of Russian attacks has now raised major questions over Mr Trump’s announcement and whether an energy ceasefire had actually been agreed with the Kremlin.
In Kharkiv, Russia struck the city’s CHP-5 combined heat and power plant, with a local official saying the facility was hit at least twice and a fire broke out. The attack was confirmed to have come just shortly after Mr Trump’s declaration, according to Ukrainian officials.
The power plant strike formed part of a deadly day of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s second-largest city. A separate strike also hit a grocery store in the Kharkiv area, killing three people and injuring 20 others, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Two children were among those injured, while images from the aftermath showed badly damaged buildings and burned-out vehicles.
Kharkiv was also not the only city where energy infrastructure was targeted. Mr Zelensky said a Russian drone also struck a power plant in Kyiv, causing power outages in parts of the Ukrainian capital
Ukrainian rescuers at the site of a Russian missile strike on a shop in Pisochyn, Kharkiv region (Image: SERGEY KOZLOV/EPA/Shutterstock)
As attacks continued across the country on Sunday, three more people were killed in a separate strike in western Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia’s military said it had struck a logistics centre in the southern Mykolaiv region and a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.
Moscow claimed the centre in Ternivka was being used to store military and dual-use cargo for Ukrainian forces, while it alleged the vessel was carrying military supplies to the port of Chornomorsk.
Mr Trump’s proposed energy ceasefire had received support from a number of Ukraine’s Western allies, including the UK, France, Canada and the European Commission. French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris backed a “real energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine.
The surprise ceasefire announcement also came just two days after Mr Trump unveiled a controversial agreement to buy Russian diesel while temporarily easing US sanctions.
