Zelenskyy Says Russia Pounded Ukraine's Energy Grid for a Third Straight Night, Defying Trump's Claimed Ceasefire

 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Russia of launching a third straight night of strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, in what he called open defiance of the "energy ceasefire" announced by US President Donald Trump. The overnight assault on Kyiv, the Kyiv region and Kharkiv reportedly involved 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones, cutting power to at least 600,000 Ukrainians.

Main News Report

Zelenskyy announced the latest wave of attacks on Wednesday, saying Russia had struck at least 26 power-system facilities and four oil and gas sites overnight. In a post on X, he said a Russian ballistic missile had hit Kyiv's CHP-4 power plant in a "targeted" and "deliberate" strike on the very infrastructure covered by the ceasefire announced by the American president.

The Associated Press, reporting from Kyiv on Wednesday, quoted Zelenskyy as saying the bombardment had continued for a third consecutive night despite Trump's claim that Moscow and Kyiv had agreed not to strike energy infrastructure. Russia's Defence Ministry said it had struck seven Ukrainian energy facilities and a data centre, according to reports.

Zelenskyy also said Ukraine's air defences had detected the missiles only as they neared the city, and that Kyiv's partners had given no early warning — raising questions about intelligence sharing between Ukraine and its Western backers.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that details of the energy ceasefire were "still being decided", telling reporters: "The work in that direction is continuing."

Background Context

The row follows Trump's announcement earlier this week that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an immediate halt to strikes on energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy said at the time that he had learned of the supposed agreement only from Trump's own social media post — a development covered in detail by PakInsight Hub earlier this week.

Trump's broader peace efforts have made little visible progress, with the war now in its fourth and a half year since Russia's full-scale invasion. Ukraine has in recent months run a sustained campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, which caused fuel shortages inside Russia; Zelenskyy has now agreed to halt those strikes, with Kyiv's last reported refinery hit coming last Friday.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration reportedly warned Kyiv and European allies that it could suspend intelligence sharing and European purchases of US weapons if Ukraine did not stop striking Russian energy facilities — adding a layer of pressure on Zelenskyy even as Russia's own bombardment continued.

Reactions and Statements

Zelenskyy's statement on X was unsparing: he accused Moscow of showing "ostentatious disrespect" toward the United States and said Russia had "never before shown such demonstrative" contempt for Washington's words. He urged Trump to impose stronger sanctions on Moscow and to provide Ukraine with additional air defence support.

Trump himself has not publicly responded to the latest strikes at the time of writing. The White House has previously described the energy truce proposal as covering oil refineries — "refinery for refinery" — a narrower framing than Trump's original announcement suggested.

Ukrainian officials also reported that their forces had liberated 277 square kilometres of territory in an operation launched in the summer, though the claim could not be independently verified and Moscow did not comment.

Why This News Matters

• For Ukraine: The strikes deepen an energy crisis just as winter approaches, with hundreds of thousands of households already without power and wider outages possible.
• For diplomacy: The continued attacks, hours after Trump's claimed ceasefire, expose the gap between Washington's announcements and Moscow's actions.
• For Pakistan and the region: The conflict continues to shape global oil and gas markets, affecting fuel prices and inflation pressures far beyond Europe.
• For intelligence ties: Zelenskyy's complaint that partners gave no early warning could strain the already tense debate over US intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

Future Developments

All eyes are now on whether Trump responds publicly to the third night of strikes and whether he follows through on Zelenskyy's call for tougher sanctions. The Kremlin says "contacts" on the energy truce are continuing, but Moscow has not confirmed it signed off on any deal.

Winter is the decisive clock: Ukraine's ability to keep its grid running through the cold months will depend on the pace of repairs, the supply of air defences, and whether any ceasefire — claimed or real — actually holds.

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