Ukraine’s European allies said they would seek to increase economic pressure on Russia after Donald Trump’s surprise diesel deal with Vladimir Putin, as the US president claimed to have secured an “energy ceasefire” between Moscow and Kyiv.
Trump shocked Kyiv and its allies on Saturday by suggesting that Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be replaced as Ukraine’s leader, just hours after announcing he had cut a deal with Putin to release diesel on to the world market.
Trump is keen to bring down the price of fuel, which has soared largely as a result of the US-Israeli attacks on Iran in the spring.
On Sunday he posted on Truth Social: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”
There was no immediate confirmation of this from Moscow. Ukraine’s presidential office said it had no information. “Nobody has heard [of it],” a senior official close to Zelenskyy told the FT.
Britain’s defence secretary Wes Streeting described Trump’s diesel deal as a response to looming midterm US elections and called on Ukraine’s allies not to “weaken” their resolve.
“Let’s be candid about this. Midterms are coming up, cost of living is an issue,” he said. “No doubt President Trump is feeling the same pressure that lots of leaders are facing.”
US President Donald Trump tells Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop bombing Russian refineries and calls for a 'new leader' of Ukraine
Streeting said Britain wanted Ukraine’s western allies to increase pressure on Russia, including through economic sanctions. “The UK intends to do more in this respect,” he said. “We are trying to increase economic pressure on Russia, not to give President Putin any sense of a weakening of western resolve, which remains absolute.”
Zelenskyy is expected to meet Andy Burnham “in the coming days” and the UK prime minister will double down on his support for the Ukrainian leader, according to Downing Street. Zelenskyy’s office confirmed he would head to London in the coming week.
The fresh diplomatic initiative comes after Trump hit out at Zelenskyy in a public display of frustration at Kyiv’s refusal to pause its campaign of strikes against Russian energy infrastructure. US officials have threatened to cut off intelligence sharing if Zelenskyy does not stop hitting Russian oil refineries.
“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a [peace] deal,” Trump told reporters on Saturday.
Trump’s remarks were met with shock, if not surprise, in Kyiv given his tendency to shift positions on Ukraine, which relies heavily on the US for political and military backing.
Angry and frustrated Ukrainians took to social media to accuse the US president of misunderstanding Putin, acting as a “useful idiot” for the Russian leader or working in concert with him to force Kyiv to capitulate.
Zelenskyy issued a highly critical initial response to Trump’s announcement of the diesel deal with Putin but said Ukraine would halt its strikes if Moscow made a reciprocal deal.
“The real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone,” he said. “It is possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but Putin does not want to do so . . . Any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees.”
Zelenskyy said on Sunday that Putin shares Trump’s desire “very much” to replace his leadership in Ukraine and challenged the US president to force Putin to halt attacks long enough for Ukraine to hold elections.
Elections in Ukraine are legally suspended during martial law under the country’s constitution.
Elections in wartime are “really difficult”, Zelenskyy told ABC News. “Please tell Putin [to] give us two months, 60 days [of] total ceasefire . . . and we will organise elections.”
In Ukraine, there was widespread support for Zelenskyy, echoing previous occasions when Trump’s attacks caused Ukrainians to rally around their leader — for example after the notorious Oval Office row in February 2025.
“Zelenskyy could respond by saying that the US needs a new president first and foremost. But why say that? Everyone already knows that,” said Serhiy Fursa, a Ukrainian investment banker. “Therefore, it is better to simply remain intelligently silent.”
Kyiv persisted with its air campaign against infrastructure deep inside Russia on Sunday with a drone attack that shut down a data centre run by technology giant Yandex. It was the third strike on the company’s facilities in four days.
NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, said it had registered a “collapse in the [Yandex] networks” after the attack.
Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s defence commissioner, said in a post on X that it was time for the EU and Ukraine to “elaborate and implement an independent peace strategy” rather than work with the US.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, said after a call with Zelenskyy that EU leaders will discuss Ukraine’s “funding needs for the year ahead and how to mobilise fresh global support” at a summit on Thursday.
“The EU will also provide further funding for drones and missiles to strengthen Ukraine’s defences and protect its skies,” she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his country “unreservedly supports the call for a genuine energy truce”. “At this stage, Russia continues to refuse it by intensifying its strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure,” he added. “France will continue to stand by Ukraine and President Zelenskyy.”
German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said that Putin needed “not less, but more pressure” to force him to the negotiating table. He said that Berlin, the single biggest supplier of military support to Kyiv, would remain unwavering.
“We very clearly continue to stand by Ukraine’s side — and, incidentally, also by the side of the [Kyiv] government,” he said. He added that Germany would “fully support the [Ukrainian] president as he carries out the difficult duties of his office”.
Alice Weidel, co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which is leading German opinion polls, heaped praise on Trump for the deal. “That’s how it’s done!” she wrote on social media. Weidel, whose party opposes weapons deliveries to Ukraine and has called for the lifting of sanctions on Moscow, said that Trump was practising “realpolitik”.
In Italy, Trump’s diesel deal with Putin has reopened the bitter political debate over the boycott of Russian energy, which has contributed to high energy prices.
Italy’s defence minister Guido Crosetto appeared to criticise Trump’s decision on Saturday, describing Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians as “evil”.
He said: “It’s hard for me to understand how one can be equidistant between Ukraine and Russia, because being equidistant between good and evil is, in my view, impossible.”
However, former military general Roberto Vannacci, leader of the fast-growing far-right National Future party, called for Italy to follow Trump’s example and restart Russian diesel imports.
“The government should stop following von der Leyen, stop funding Ukraine and should pursue the interests of Italians. We must buy energy from whoever sells it to us at the lowest price,” he wrote on social media.
Additional reporting by Laura Pitel in Berlin, Adrienne Klasa in Paris, Andy Bounds in Brussels and Amy Kazmin in Rome