Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Kyiv remains ready for a bilateral “energy ceasefire” with Russia after holding separate talks with the leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom in New York City.
He also warned in a post on Telegram on Tuesday that Russia was planning “a new massive attack” against his country.
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Zelenskyy, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, met with US President Donald Trump for 40 minutes and said the talks focused on efforts to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of his country, now in its fifth year.
Writing on X, he said the talks were “positive and productive”.
“Both the US and Ukraine want to see this senseless Russian war ended before winter. We discussed potential de-escalatory steps that can open up the way to diplomacy,” he added.
In comments to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Zelenskyy said Kyiv remains ready to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities if Moscow stops targeting Ukraine’s energy system. But he stressed that there had been no discussion with Trump of Kyiv unilaterally ending attacks on the Russian oil industry.
“We are ready for energy ceasefire,” he said. “If they don’t want us to attack their diesel and refineries, and etc, we are ready – if they will not attack our energy system, our electricity, heating system, water supplies.”
Warning of new attacks
Trump, whose approval ratings have slumped to a record low amid high petrol prices ahead of the US midterm elections in November, had expressed concern in recent days over the extensive damage done by Ukraine to Russia’s fuel-processing capacity, which he said was stoking diesel prices globally.
Before the meeting, Trump told reporters that he and Zelenskyy would discuss Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries.
“It is a serious hit on the Russians. It’s also a serious hit on the price of diesel,” Trump said.
He said they would also talk about solutions for ending the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “I think it’s going to happen,” he added.
The US president said last week that the two countries had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy facilities, but strikes resumed almost immediately.
The Kremlin had previously welcomed the US proposal for an energy moratorium while also calling for measures covering Russian seaborne energy exports and sanctions.
But Zelenskyy, writing on Telegram following his meeting with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham, said there could not possibly be any discussion of easing sanctions against Russia “when Ukrainians live every day under the threat of missile and drone attacks”.
“There’s intelligence right now that Russia is preparing a new massive attack against Ukraine,” he wrote.
The renewed push for an energy ceasefire comes after weeks of intensifying long-range attacks by both sides. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s power, fuel and port infrastructure, raising fears of further damage to the country’s energy system as temperatures fall. On September 15, Russia launched about 200 drones across Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials, hitting petrol stations in Kyiv as well as energy and port infrastructure elsewhere.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has expanded its campaign against Russia’s oil industry, using long-range drones to strike refineries and other energy facilities at sites up to 3,000km (1,860 miles) from the Ukrainian border. A September 20 attack forced the Moscow oil refinery, which processed about 230,000 barrels of crude a day in 2024, to halt crude processing, the Reuters news agency reported, citing industry sources.
Patriot missiles
Amid fears that Russia will once again pound Ukraine’s heating and power facilities as winter approaches, Zelenskyy said he had discussed a winter air-defence package with Trump and asked for additional Patriot air defence missiles, the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of downing Russia’s ballistic missiles.
The US-Israel war on Iran as well as Russia’s war with Ukraine have depleted global supplies of Patriots, including US inventories.
Zelenskyy said that, in return for Patriots from US stockpiles this winter, Ukraine would swap future supplies of interceptors from its deal with Germany, which has agreed to provide Ukraine with 600 Patriots in 2027 and 2028.
He told reporters it was a “good step” that the idea was not rejected but acknowledged that Trump had not yet agreed to the proposal. He said that discussions for Ukraine to begin licensed production of Patriots itself were still ongoing.
Burnham, the British prime minister, meanwhile said he had lobbied Trump during their talks to press for a Ukraine-Russia energy ceasefire. Burnham also promised further financial support to Kyiv for infrastructure.
