Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Moscow of openly defying Donald Trump after a devastating overnight barrage killed at least three people, damaged critical energy infrastructure and plunged hundreds of thousands into darkness ahead of winter.
Russia has delivered a brutal challenge to Donald Trump’s proposed energy ceasefire, unleashing missiles and drones against Ukraine’s power grid in an attack President Volodymyr Zelensky described as “ostentatious disrespect toward the United States”.
Moscow fired 39 ballistic missiles and more than 120 drones at energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, the surrounding region and Kharkiv, Zelensky said on October 14. At least three people were killed and 22 injured after a residential building and power facilities were hit in the capital, according to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.
The barrage has exposed the fragility of Trump’s attempt to halt attacks on energy infrastructure, raising questions about whether Washington can persuade Vladimir Putin to restrain his military campaign as Ukraine braces for another winter of disrupted electricity and heating.
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“The strike was entirely deliberate and demonstrative in its scale,” Zelensky said, reporting damage to 26 power facilities and four oil and gas sites. At least 600,000 people were left without electricity.
“Russia does not consider the American President’s statements strong,” he added.
Trump announced on October 11 that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure. But Kyiv has said Russian strikes continued, even as Ukrainian forces halted attacks on Russian oil refineries following the announcement.
The US president declined on October 13 to blame the Kremlin for violating the proposed truce, instead pointing to Ukrainian attacks on energy facilities the previous day. That reluctance has sharpened concerns in Kyiv that Washington’s pressure is falling disproportionately on Ukraine rather than the aggressor.
The stakes are rising as winter approaches. Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s electricity and heating infrastructure, seeking to weaken the country’s ability to withstand the invasion. The latest barrage suggests that Trump’s public declaration has yet to translate into an effective restraint on Russian operations.
Meanwhile, Washington has pressed Kyiv to halt its attacks on Russian refineries, linking them to rising global fuel prices — a claim disputed by experts. Questions are also mounting over the reliability of early-warning intelligence, after Russian missiles reportedly struck Kyiv before air-raid alerts sounded.
Ukrainian figures have separately claimed that SpaceX has restricted the speed of Starlink terminals in the country, disrupting some critical missions. The claims add another layer of uncertainty over the communications and technological support on which Ukraine’s defence depends.
Zelensky urged Washington to impose sanctions on Russia under a proposed bill associated with the late US senator Lindsey Graham and provide additional Patriot air-defence interceptors.
“The American President has all the effective and necessary tools to bring peace closer through strength, justice, and pressure on the aggressor,” he said.
For Kyiv, the test of Trump’s ceasefire is no longer what was announced in Washington, but what happens on the ground. With civilians dead, power facilities damaged and winter closing in, the latest assault has exposed the widening gulf between the promise of peace and the reality of Russia’s war.
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