WARSAW, Poland — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Europe’s main eastern-flank security gathering Monday that Kyiv will honor President Trump’s surprise “energy ceasefire” if Moscow does. But Russian drones, he said, kept hitting Ukraine’s power and gas sites through the night anyway.
“It was clear that Putin does not read Truth Social, and his Shahed drones follow a different set of instructions,” Mr. Zelenskyy said by video from Kyiv to the Warsaw Security Forum. “It is still the middle of the night in Washington. But we know that people there wake up early, and they will immediately see what we are seeing here.”
He said the truce “can become a major step toward ending the war” if Washington makes sure Russia respects it. “If Russia wants us to stop our long-range strikes against its oil refineries and oil exports, then Russia must stop its strikes against our energy system,” he said.
People were interested in these podcasts
Mr. Trump, angry over Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, said Saturday, “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.” On Sunday, he posted that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop striking each other’s energy sites, “effective immediately.” On Friday, he announced a deal for Russia to supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to U.S. and world markets as fuel prices climb. Lawmakers of both parties have criticized it as a reward for Mr. Putin.
The Warsaw forum drew more than 2,800 delegates from 80 countries. When a moderator at a warm-up session asked whether anyone in the hall would speak up for the diesel deal, no hands went up.
Mr. Zelenskyy said Sunday he would hold elections if Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire.
SEE ALSO: Trump says Kyiv, Moscow agree to stop attacking each other’s energy facilities
Olena Tregub, secretary general of the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, a Kyiv watchdog on defense-sector corruption, called the offer “a strategic diplomatic move rather than a realistic roadmap.”
“Ukrainians generally want to see elections, and the question of democratic legitimacy is increasingly important after so many years of war and corruption scandals,” she told The Washington Times. “However, 60 days is an extremely short timeframe to organize free and fair elections, even under a complete ceasefire.”
Ms. Tregub, who coordinates a public council on sanctions policy for Mr. Zelenskyy’s office, said millions of Ukrainians are displaced or living abroad, and soldiers would need a safe way to vote.
A parliamentary working group has been drafting a new election law since January but has not produced a single bill.
“I would argue that the Trump administration, rather than increasing pressure on Putin, has taken steps that have actually helped him,” she said.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on stage in the hall with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, said Moscow answered Mr. Trump’s energy truce with an attack on Ukraine’s power plants. “Whenever anyone proposes to Putin an immediate ceasefire, Russia consistently responds at once with arrogance and brutality,” he said. “We cannot afford any illusion.”
SEE ALSO: EU sanctions nearly 1,600 Russian people and firms linked to drone and missile parts
Without naming Mr. Trump, he warned that “anyone who tries to introduce symmetry here” between Russia and Ukraine “gives an extraordinarily valuable gift to the aggressor.”
The road to peace “does not lead through weakness,” he said, and the signal must go out “from every capital, from Warsaw to Washington.”
Mr. Tusk, who is regarded as one of Mr. Trump’s biggest allies among European leaders, said he would push in Brussels this week for tougher sanctions on Russia.
Norway, the forum’s partner nation, is giving Ukraine about $9 billion this year and has proposed the same for 2027.
EU ports took a record 12.18 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Russia’s Yamal project in the first nine months of the year, up 9.5% from 2025, according to Urgewald, a German group that tracks the trade using Kpler shipping data. It puts the bill at about $8.8 billion (7.88 billion euros). France took nearly three-quarters of September’s cargoes.
Under the Russia and Iran sanctions law Mr. Trump signed last month, Washington must complete its first review by this Sunday. The law lets him sanction the tankers that carry the gas and the ports that take it, or waive those sanctions.
“The question is not whether Ukraine is willing to hold elections, but whether the international community is willing to put enough pressure on Putin to create the conditions in which they can actually take place,” Ms. Tregub said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.