Volodymyr Zelensky has offered to halt Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure and hold elections if Vladimir Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire, as a growing dispute with Donald Trump threatens to complicate efforts to end the war.
The Ukrainian president’s proposal came after Trump called for Kyiv to find a “new President who can make a deal”, escalating tensions between Washington and Kyiv over Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries and the impact of the campaign on global fuel supplies.
Zelensky said Ukraine was prepared to suspend its strikes on Russian energy facilities if Moscow stopped its bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure, while insisting that any agreement would require credible security guarantees.
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“First of all, with all respect to President Trump, it’s up to our society, up to our people to choose one or another leader,” Zelensky told ABC News in a televised interview
“Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections,” he told ABC News.
The offer seeks to link a pause in the fighting to a political process in Ukraine, where martial law has prevented elections during the war. But its prospects depend on whether the Kremlin would accept a ceasefire and whether Washington could secure an agreement both sides would consider enforceable.
The proposal also comes against the backdrop of an increasingly contentious dispute over energy markets. Washington has announced an arrangement under which Russia would release millions of tonnes of diesel onto the global market, seeking to ease pressure on fuel supplies as the US war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupt energy flows.
Trump has blamed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries for worsening the shortage, arguing that the strikes threaten supplies relied upon by American farmers and businesses.
“We told them, do whatever you want, but don’t hit the diesel fuel because there’s a big problem, a big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel,” Trump told reporters outside the White House.
“He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world… So he’d better damn well stop,” the US president warned.
Trump later sharpened his criticism of Zelensky, saying it was time for Ukraine to “get a new leader who can make a deal”.
The comments have exposed a widening disagreement over how to balance maintaining military pressure on Russia with containing the conflict’s economic consequences.
Zelensky has argued that Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are intended to undermine Moscow’s ability to finance and sustain its invasion. He also sought to counter suggestions that Kyiv was responsible for prolonging the war.
“The real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone,” he said.
The Ukrainian president added that Kyiv could halt attacks on energy facilities immediately, but questioned whether the Kremlin would reciprocate.
“It is feasible to stop strikes on energy today, but Putin does not want to do this,” he stated.
Kyiv has intensified its aerial campaign against Russia’s oil industry in recent weeks, targeting facilities involved in processing, storing and transporting petroleum products.
On Saturday, Ukrainian forces struck the Samara linear production and dispatching station near Prosvet for a second time, after an earlier attack on 7 October destroyed four large crude-oil storage reservoirs.
The facility blends petroleum streams into export-grade Urals crude and supplies refined fuel to Russian military forces.
Ukrainian missiles and drones have also targeted the Yug Rusi oil terminal in Rostov-on-Don, alongside corporate data centres in the Vladimir, Kaluga and Ryazan regions.
Kyiv argues that degrading Russia’s refining capacity can constrain fuel supplies to frontline units while reducing the revenues available to finance the war. Moscow has responded by restricting diesel exports, adding pressure to an already unsettled international fuel market.
The dispute has become increasingly sensitive for Trump as the United States confronts higher energy costs ahead of its midterm elections. Diesel prices cited in reports have climbed to £4.74 per gallon, compared with £2.78 a year earlier, intensifying pressure on the administration to stabilise supplies.
For Washington, the challenge is to reduce domestic fuel costs while pursuing a settlement to the war. For Kyiv, the concern is that pressure to suspend attacks on Russian infrastructure could weaken one of its principal means of imposing economic costs on Moscow without securing an equivalent concession from Putin.
Zelensky’s proposal offers a potential route towards a temporary pause, but it leaves fundamental questions unresolved: whether Russia would agree to stop its attacks, what guarantees would prevent renewed hostilities and how elections could be organised under a ceasefire.
The exchange also underscores the growing divergence between Trump’s emphasis on reaching a deal and Ukraine’s insistence that any settlement must protect its sovereignty and security.
A 60-day ceasefire could create space for negotiations and election preparations. Without agreement on enforcement and security, however, the proposal risks becoming another test of whether Washington can persuade Moscow and Kyiv to accept terms that neither side has yet demonstrated it is willing to embrace.
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