Zelenskyy vows to retaliate if Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power grid continue

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries.

Speaking to a gathering of European security officials in Warsaw on Monday, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would retaliate if strikes on its power grid continued: “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond.”

On Sunday, Trump announced an “energy ceasefire” between Kyiv and Moscow that Zelenskyy said neither side had agreed to. On Monday, Zelenskyy said he was “surprised” by the post, which went online while Kyiv was being attacked by Russian Shahed drones.

Russia then launched a “targeted attack” on a Kharkiv power station hours later, as much of Kyiv was plunged into darkness. “It’s clear that Putin does not read Truth Social,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia bombed six energy facilities on Monday, injuring 33 people, the Ukrainian president said. “It is becoming increasingly clear that Russia does not want to agree to the energy ceasefire proposed by the US and intends to continue its terrorist air attacks against our communities,” he added.

Zelenskyy also suggested that Ukraine’s recent counter-strikes on datacentres belonging to the Russian technology company Yandex had reduced the number of bots posting messages in Europe and the US. “It suddenly became a little easier to breathe on many social platforms. There was less hate, less division and fewer provocations,” he said.

The Kremlin refused to say on Monday whether it agreed with Trump’s Truth Social post, which claimed a ceasefire was “effective immediately”. It also rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal that Russia stop bombing for 60 days so Ukraine could hold a presidential election. Moscow wanted an overall peace deal first, it said, which, for the Kremlin, means Kyiv’s capitulation.

The fast-moving row between Washington and Kyiv began on Friday, when Trump announced he was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports. He said the move would reduce global and domestic fuel prices before next month’s US midterm elections.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians have criticised the move, pointing out that the deal violates a US law that blocks Russian energy imports. On Monday Trump defended it. “I made the right choice for the American People – ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST!” he wrote in a social media post.