Zelensky reports 76 attacks on Ukrainian energy sector after Trump’s ceasefire announcement

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday, 18 October, that Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire. He said overnight strikes had hit substations in the Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odesa regions, leaving tens of thousands of families without electricity. The figure is his count of attacks, not a count of damaged facilities. [1]

The question is whether there was an agreed ceasefire to break. On 11 October, Trump declared that one was in force immediately and that both sides had agreed. But a White House official described to Axios only a potential deal for both sides to stop attacking oil refineries, with an agreement covering power plants and grids possibly to follow. Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to observe an energy ceasefire if Russia did the same. On 14 October, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said no specific terms had been agreed; Reuters reported on Sunday that neither Kyiv nor Moscow had confirmed Trump’s announced agreement. [8] [4] [5] [7]

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had struck seven Ukrainian energy facilities in an overnight attack that week, describing them as facilities benefiting Ukraine’s military. That is a claim about facilities in one operation, rather than confirmation of Zelensky’s week-long count of attacks. [5]

Zelensky also urged Washington to increase pressure on Moscow, arguing that opportunities for Russia to earn money encouraged it to keep fighting. The US Treasury issued a licence on 9 October permitting certain transactions involving Russian-origin diesel until April 2027; the licence does not establish that any diesel has been delivered. On 16 October, Trump waived provisions of a new Russia sanctions law, but his order said existing sanctions imposed under other executive orders were unaffected. That later decision cannot explain attacks earlier in the week, and the record does not establish that either US measure drove Russia’s strikes.