Vladimir Putin has delivered a humiliating snub to Donald Trump by raining bombs on Ukraine’s energy sector, days after the president boasted he’d brokered a ceasefire.
Trump said his goons engineered an “energy ceasefire” between Moscow and Kyiv last week, which would pause attacks from both sides on critical infrastructure. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he didn’t know about the truce, and the Kremlin said it wouldn’t take part.
Moscow made good on that commitment on Tuesday night, launching a massive bombardment with missiles and drones on energy facilities in the cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv, as well as the capital’s surrounding regions.
“Overnight, the Russians used 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 attack drones and loitering munitions against our energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, the Kyiv region, and Kharkiv,” Zelensky said on X.
“A targeted Russian ballistic missile strike specifically against energy infrastructure—the very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American President.”
He said the strikes had left 600,000 people without power, taken lives, and damaged 26 energy facilities, but had also served as a show of disrespect to Washington, D.C.
“The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale,” he said. “Russia has never before shown such ostentatious disrespect toward the United States. Russia does not consider the American President’s statements strong.”
It came a day after Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said Ukraine didn’t deserve the “respite” a ceasefire would offer.
Trump handed Putin a stunning reprieve from sanctions on his energy sector last week. Russia is the world’s third-largest exporter of refined fossil fuel products and relies on the cash it generates to fund the war in Ukraine.
On Friday, Trump ended pressure on Russia’s economy built by the ban, saying he planned to import $4.5 billion of Russian diesel to ease soaring prices at the pump in the U.S.
“Russia has squandered the opportunity for de-escalation and has clearly chosen to continue its insane war of annihilation,” Zelensky continued. “We ask President Trump to impose STRONG sanctions on Russia, especially since the Lindsey Graham bill, which was recently passed and signed into law, authorizes and regulates such measures.”
Relations between D.C. and Kyiv also had another question mark overhead after Elon Musk’s Starlink announced it would limit some of its services in Ukraine.
Ukraine said that it had received little to no warning of Tuesday’s attack, prompting the U.S. to deny that it had stopped sharing intelligence.
“Tonight SpaceX introduced a speed limit for the Starlink terminals in motion,” said Ukrainian presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov. “Our defense forces were not warned about this restriction, which led to the disruption of a number of missions. Obviously, this action cannot be a coincidence and is linked to the current political situation.”
“[The Americans] told the Ukrainians no warning happened because of bad weather conditions, which is seen as not an adequate reason in Kyiv,” an official told Politico. “Thus many are getting increasingly worried this might not have been the case.”
Simmering tension between Kyiv and Washington was put front and center last week when Trump said he believed it was time for Ukraine to elect a new leader. He has opted to scapegoat Zelensky for the high diesel and gas prices ahead of the midterms on Nov. 3.
The rift also shows how far D.C. has drifted from its closest allies under Trump. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday ahead of a Wednesday visit from Zelensky in London: “My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer: we are with you for as long as it takes, and we will go further and faster in our support to back your courageous fight for peace in Europe.”
The strikes come after Trump went out to bat for Putin and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, saying he didn’t believe the two countries were meaningfully supporting Iran in its war against the U.S.
“I see so many comments from the Radical Left Morons and Lunatics that China and Russia are helping the ‘wonderful’ Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said Monday in a late-night Truth Social post.
“If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all,” he continued. “They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast!”
