Zelenskyy says Russia strikes energy facilities despite Trump claim of an energy ceasefire

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia has continued to strike Ukraine's energy facilities even after U.S. President Donald Trump said a day earlier that the warring countries had agreed on an energy ceasefire in the 4 1/2-year-old war.

Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had learned through media reports that Trump had secured an energy ceasefire deal with Russia which would involve a mutual pause in strikes on energy sites. Zelenskyy said he would be willing to honor such an agreement, if Moscow did the same.

“We support it, but I have not heard approval of this proposal from the Russian side,” Zelenskyy said.

Trump’s brief social media post on Sunday claiming the purported agreement offered few details but said that the energy ceasefire took effect immediately, adding: “Do not break it!”

Yet Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been “horribly surprised" that following Trump's "sudden but very important post,” Russia had struck numerous energy facilities including a power plant in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as well as a gas production facility and a civilian gas station.

“It was clear that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not read Truth Social,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Trump's social media platform.

Trump previously announced a similar agreement on ceasing energy strikes that did not come to fruition. In a social media post on Sept. 14, he said both countries had agreed “not to hit” each other’s energy infrastructure, but offered no details on that proposal either.

Russia has used attacks on energy facilities in order to deny Ukrainian civilians power, heat and running water during the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter," and fear Russia could ramp up such attacks as cold weather approaches.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has leveled strikes against Russian energy sites like oil refineries, sometimes deep within Russian territory, prompting Trump to blame Zelenskyy for high diesel prices on world markets. On Friday, Trump struck a deal with Putin to import Russian diesel in an attempt to address high fuel prices just weeks ahead of U.S. midterm elections.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv was ready to comply with Trump's requests to stop striking Russian refineries if Moscow halted attacks on Ukraine’s energy system, and asked Trump to press the Kremlin to agree. He added that if Moscow does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, “we will respond.”

“We are waiting for the details of the conversation between the Americans and the Russians, and we are waiting to see what specific steps the Americans are ready to take," he said. “This energy ceasefire can work, and it can become a major step toward ending the war.”

The European Union’s top diplomat on Monday welcomed the prospect of a pause in energy strikes in Ukraine, particularly as winter approaches, but said she sees no sign that Russia would be willing to respect it.

“We haven’t yet seen that also Russia will stick to it,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “Personally, I would also welcome that the ceasefire would include people not being killed, not only energy.”

Ukrainian and European officials reacted with dismay to Trump's diesel deal with Putin, saying it will help fund Russia’s war effort.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told reporters in Luxembourg on Monday that he doesn’t believe the deal “is actually going to change anything” in terms of fuel prices, and that it is ”much more connected to the domestic situation in the U.S."

Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, also pushed back on Trump's comments on Saturday that it was time for Ukraine to get a new president and that Zelenskyy has not done enough to end the war. She said that now is not the time to hold elections in Ukraine, at least not without a ceasefire.

On Monday, Zelenskyy said holding elections in Ukraine was impossible during war time, especially with new Russian tactics involving attacks during both the day and night.

“Under such circumstances, it’s impossible to hold elections,” he said, but added that he would be ready to work towards doing so if Ukraine secured a full ceasefire lasting at least 60 days.

A Russian drone attack on the village of Pisochyn in the Kharkiv district on Sunday evening killed three people and injured nine others, including children, according to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

Investigators said the attack occurred at approximately 7:25 p.m., striking a densely populated area near apartment buildings and grocery stores and sparking a fire.

Ukrainian air defense forces shot down or suppressed 89 of 121 Russian drones overnight Monday, Ukraine’s Air Force said in a Telegram post. The attack involved one Kh-59 guided air-to-surface missile and 121 drones, including 76 jet-powered Shahed-type drones, the statement said.

Strikes were recorded at 15 locations in Ukraine, while debris from downed drones fell at four locations.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Monday said its air defenses overnight intercepted 151 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions as well as the illegally annexed Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea.

In a separate statement, the ministry said its forces overnight carried out drone strikes on Ukraine’s unspecified port infrastructure and a bulk carrier heading to Ukraine's port city of Odesa with military cargo on board.

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

People watch Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a large screen as he speaks at the Warsaw Security Forum in Warsaw, Poland, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Attila Husejnow)

An injured man collects his personal belongings in front of his house destroyed in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

Cars burn after a Russian strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A rescue worker puts out a fire at residential houses destroyed in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

Rescue workers put out a fire of residential houses destroyed in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

An injured man collects his personal belongings in front of his house destroyed in a Russian strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

Airstrikes targeted two districts in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels reported Monday, blaming Saudi Arabia for the airstrikes that occurred around midnight. Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to the claim.

Meanwhile, India's Foreign Ministry said two Indian nationals were missing after a drone struck a commercial tanker around the Strait of Hormuz.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Monday. Read our full coverage here.

A spokesman for Yemen's Houthi-run Health Ministry said Monday that airstrikes on the capital Sanaa killed one person and wounded 12 others.

Ministry spokesman Anees al-Asbahi said a strike on a salt factory in Sanaa's Hamadan district killed a man and wounded eight people. A separate strike on a house wounded a woman and three children, he said.

The Iranian-backed rebels' media center blamed Saudi Arabia for the strikes, which came as the Houthis continued to fire missiles and drones toward the kingdom’s airports.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation didn't say Monday when King Khalid Airport in the capital of Riyadh will resume operations.

Houthi rebels have attacked the airport multiple times in recent days, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 320 others.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Monday repeated the country's readiness to help settle the conflict between Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia through diplomatic means.

Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Iran was deeply concerned about the situation in the Arabian Peninsula and has announced its readiness to mediate talks between the two sides “many times.”

Baghaei said the war only serves Israeli interests and that Iran doesn't accept the continuation of conflict between two Islamic nations.

He said Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and his Saudi counterpart discussed developments on a phone call Sunday.

Businesses in Riyadh's financial hub have told employees to work remotely after the Houthis increased attacks on the kingdom.

That’s according to multiple employees whose firms have offices at the King Abdullah Financial District. They spoke Monday on condition of anonymity for their safety.

The district is home to major financial institutions including the Saudi sovereign wealth fund and an Aramco office, the stock exchange and global firms like Goldman Sachs.

Authorities in Riyadh have also asked schools to switch to online classes this week following the deadly strikes on King Khalid International Airport over the weekend.

— By Samy Magdy in Cairo

India's Foreign Ministry said Monday two Indian seafarers are missing after a drone struck the MT Petro Dolphin in the Strait of Hormuz area. The commercial tanker had 11 Indian sailors on board when it was hit Sunday, the ministry said.

A second vessel, the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Valthera, was struck by an unknown projectile, sparking a fire on board, but all 11 Indian sailors on the tanker were safe, the ministry said.

The ministry said that repeated strikes on commercial shipping in the region were “deeply concerning and risk further aggravating an already volatile situation.”

An Emirati diplomat on Monday called for “joint Gulf action” to defend Gulf countries against attacks by Iran and its allied groups.

Anwar Gargash, a diplomatic adviser to the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, said Iran and its allies wrongly assessed that Gulf Arab countries were “the weakest link” in the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran.

Tehran and its allies have repeatedly attacked Arab countries on the opposite side of the Persian Gulf.

Gargash posted on social media that “we are all targeted and that our security is indivisible,” adding that attacks on Saudi Arabia undermine "the security of the UAE and all Gulf states.”

Iran on Monday hanged a man convicted on charges of belonging to the Jaish al-Adl militant group and helping support attacks on security forces, official Mizan news agency reported.

Mizan, affiliated with Iran's judiciary, identified the man as Omar Dorostaran, saying he provided logistical support to armed teams, including arranging safe houses, moving members and supplying weapons and ammunition.

The judiciary accused Dorostaran of supporting attacks on police and Revolutionary Guard facilities in Rask, as well as attacks on military sites in the southeastern port city of Chabahar in April 2024. In one attack on a police station in Rask, 11 police officers and soldiers were killed.

Jaish al-Adl, or the Army of Justice, is a Sunni militant group that emerged in 2012 and has repeatedly targeted Iranian security forces in southeastern Iran.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday Iran-backed Houthi rebels’ deadly strikes on Saudi Arabia were a troubling development that underscored the U.S. has not yet achieved its objectives in the war against Iran.

Speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi focused on the postwar future of the Middle East, Pompeo said that "we collectively have not yet achieved deterrence.”

Pompeo, who served as secretary of State and CIA director during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first term, said: "You have to crush the Iranian regime, period, full stop. There’s no solution short of that.”

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Supporters of Yemen's Houthi rebels shout slogans during a rally in support of the group, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026. Writing on posters reads in Arabic, "God is great, death to America, death to Israel, Curse the Jews, Victory to Islam." (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Schoolboys ride in the back of a police pickup truck after classes in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

A displaced Yemeni family sits beside a makeshift shelter along a roadside in Aden, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)