WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree-cutting at the East Potomac Golf Course, a historic D.C. course that has been part of President Donald Trump’s plans to remake the city.
Reyes issued the order following a tense three-hour hearing in which she blistered the government for having deceived her with its actions over the holiday weekend.
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A golfer hits from the rough near a tree wrapped in caution tape at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers tee off near log sections cut and tree stumps at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers hit from the fairway near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A golfer walks past the stump of a large tree at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers pass workers as the National Park Service begins cutting down trees at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
A golfer pauses near trees recently cut down by the National Park Service at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Golfers pass workers as the National Park Service begins cutting down trees at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Golfers pass trees recently cut down by the National Park Service, at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
President Donald Trump waves while returning to the White House following a trip to Clarksville, Tenn., on the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Reyes said the 24-hour temporary order could be extended to 14 days if necessary. It was limited to one day while the government tries to find a key Trump administration official to discuss why a massive tree-cutting at the park needed to occur over the holiday weekend, with little notification to plaintiffs in a lawsuit trying to halt renovation plans or the judge.
It’s the latest example of the erosion of trust between the government and the independent judiciary, as the Trump administration tries to steamroll scrutiny of its actions, from the White House ballroom to immigration enforcement.
The hearing started with a blistering 15-minute statement from Reyes, who has declined repeated motions from the plaintiffs to halt work by the administration out of concern that its strategy has seemed to be move ahead on projects despite court actions.
“I am thoroughly unamused right now," Reyes said. “I do not know how I could have made it any plainer that I did not want what was to happen, to happen.” The judge added, “I have given the government every single benefit of the doubt that it would not do precisely what it has done.”
She told the government's lawyers sharply, “I wanted you all to be better than you have been.”
The emergency hearing on a holiday expanded as the judge ordered the government to get various participants in the decision-making process into the hearing remotely.
Reyes plans to hold another hearing Tuesday and wants to hear from Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department. Wischer pushed for the work to be done urgently, according to testimony from Frank Lands, deputy director of operations for the National Park Service.
Reyes and plaintiff’s attorney Abbe Lowell raised numerous questions about the timeline and chain of command for the decision and whether the witnesses were aware of other plans by the administration.
Kevin Griess, the superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, cited a 2019 National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report as the guide for the work.
Lands said it was part of Trump’s 2025 order to make D.C. safe and beautiful. Under questioning from Reyes, he acknowledged that while other city golf courses were also mentioned in the Cultural Landscape Report, there had been no discussions of work at them.
Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
A golfer hits from the rough near a tree wrapped in caution tape at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers tee off near log sections cut and tree stumps at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers hit from the fairway near log sections cut from trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A golfer walks past the stump of a large tree at the East Potomac Golf Links, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Golfers pass workers as the National Park Service begins cutting down trees at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
A golfer pauses near trees recently cut down by the National Park Service at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Golfers pass workers as the National Park Service begins cutting down trees at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
Golfers pass trees recently cut down by the National Park Service, at East Potomac Golf Links, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
President Donald Trump waves while returning to the White House following a trip to Clarksville, Tenn., on the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that while Ukraine is willing to halt attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure, Moscow has continued to strike his country's energy sites despite U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that the warring countries had agreed to cease such attacks.
Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland, Zelenskyy said Ukraine had been “horribly surprised” that Moscow struck a power plant in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, as well as a gas production facility and a civilian gas station hours after Trump announced the purported “energy ceasefire” in the 4 1/2-year-old war.
Later on Monday, during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Zelenksyy said his government had refrained from striking Russian energy sites since Trump’s announcement Sunday, and was ready to honor an energy ceasefire as “a good first step” toward closing the war.
But, he said, "I’m not sure that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is ready."
“Even after yesterday’s messages from (Trump) ... Putin attacked our gas infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said. “When we speak about energy ceasefire, it means only one thing: that they don’t attack our energy infrastructure and we don’t respond on their energy infrastructure.”
Trump’s brief social media post Sunday offered few details but said the energy ceasefire took effect immediately, adding: “Do not break it!” On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn’t say whether Russia had agreed to such a ceasefire, saying only: “Contacts are ongoing."
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 support for Ukraine's response 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 launched strikes against Russian energy sites like oil refineries, sometimes deep within Russian territory. That's prompted Trump to blame Zelenskyy for record U.S. diesel prices — rather than the U.S.-led war in Iran — and to strike a deal with Putin on Friday to import diesel from Russia in an attempt to bring fuel prices down ahead of U.S. midterm elections.
Speaking on Fox News on Monday, Zelenskyy pushed back on Trump's claims that Ukrainian strikes in Russia were driving up fuel prices, saying: “Everybody understands that the prices on diesel (don't) depend on our attacks on diesel in Russia. Everybody understands that it depends on the blocking (of the) Strait of Hormuz.”
The European Union’s top diplomat on Monday welcomed the prospect of a pause in energy strikes on Ukraine, but said she sees no sign that Russia is willing to respect it.
“We haven’t yet seen that ... 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.”
Trump's deal with Putin to purchase diesel from Russia dismayed officials in the U.S., Ukraine and around Europe. A bipartisan group of six U.S. senators, including four Republicans, called Sunday on the Trump administration to “immediately reverse course” on the deal, saying the U.S. should “not provide Putin with a financial lifeline” while Russia is killing Ukrainian civilians.
Kallas also pushed back on Trump's comments 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 day and night. He added, however, that he would be ready to work toward doing so if Ukraine secured a full ceasefire lasting at least 60 days.
In response, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said in a statement that in case of a Ukrainian election, Putin would be ready to halt strikes on Ukraine “specifically on election day,” and that Kyiv only wanted a 60-day ceasefire “to gather their strength, heal their wounds, and continue the war.”
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy called for greater pressure on Russia to end the war after a Russian drone struck a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv on Monday evening, killing two people and injuring nine.
“This is further proof that Russia must face greater pressure. They are the ones continuing the brutal strikes. They are the ones prolonging the war,” he said in a post on X.
He called the attack a “response” to the U.S. proposal for an energy ceasefire.
“We count on the United States to recognize these signals from Russia and act with strength. Strength is needed to force Russia to end this war,” Zelenskyy said.
Monday's attack came a day after a Russian drone struck the village of Pisochyn in the Kharkiv district, killing three people and injuring nine others, including children, according to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
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 attacks included one Kh-59 guided air-to-surface missile and 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.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said Monday 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 carried out drone strikes overnight on Ukraine’s 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 to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A burned car is seen in front of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A police officer photographs the engine of a Shahed drone in front of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A burned car and motorcycle are seen in front of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Police officers search for fragments of a Shahed drone in front of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Daria Kozaknichayeva, left, hugs her neighbor in the courtyard of a multistory residential building damaged in a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
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)
