Kremlin rejects Ukrainian leader's 60-day ceasefire plan after Trump surprise

The Kremlin said on Monday that contacts were ongoing about a possible energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which was surprisingly announced by US president Donald Trump.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether the ceasefire would apply only to oil refineries and said further information would be revealed in due course.

Earlier, the Kremlin on Monday rejected a 60-day ceasefire idea proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to allow his country to hold presidential elections, saying it wanted an overall peace deal instead.

"Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organize elections," Zelenskyy told ABC's 'This Week' on Sunday.

Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russia wanted a long-term peace deal rather than a temporary ceasefire.

"In the Kremlin, both President Putin and officials at other levels have repeatedly stated that we do not want a ceasefire," said Peskov. "We want long-term peace and are prepared to do everything possible to achieve it."

Russia has long pressed Ukraine to hold elections and says that its failure to do so makes Zelenskyy an illegitimate leader. Elections in wartime are prohibited by Ukrainian law.

Violation

Zelenskyy accused Russia of violating the energy ceasefire announced by Trump after a strike on a thermal power plant in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and urged the United States to ensure Moscow sticks to any agreement.

Under pressure over high energy prices ahead of US midterm elections next month, Trump had blindsided Kyiv and its European allies by announcing that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed an energy ceasefire over the weekend. He had also unveiled a deal to buy diesel from Russia, angering Ukraine.

As its officials voiced scepticism over the ceasefire, the European Union urged the US to keep pressure on Moscow and approved new sanctions targeting Russia's military-industrial complex.

Zelenskyy said he was still awaiting details of the deal, with Kyiv wary of any agreement that it feels could hand Russia an advantage by forcing Ukraine unilaterally to halt attacks on Russian refineries.

"There were Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump," Zelenskyy told a conference in Warsaw via video link.

"We are waiting for the details of the conditions between the Americans and Russians, and we are waiting to see one specific step the Americans are ready to take," said Zelenskyy, who said he had learned about the ceasefire deal from the media.

"This energy ceasefire, it can work, and it can become a major step toward ending the war if the Americans truly step in now and make sure Russians respect it."

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had carried out no attacks on Russian refineries overnight but he made clear that if Russia wanted Kyiv to suspend these attacks it must stop hitting Ukraine's energy system and critical infrastructure.

Dramatic

In a dramatic deterioration in relations, Trump on Saturday warned Zelenskyy that he had "better damn well stop" attacking Russian refineries, and urged Ukrainians to replace their leader at new elections. Trump said Zelenskyy had missed several opportunities to strike a deal with Moscow.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump unexpectedly announced that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to an energy ceasefire, but did not elaborate further.

"Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!" Trump wrote.

The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would prefer a ceasefire "which includes people not being killed" and that it was not clear whether Russia would stick to it.

"We would call the US to get the sanctions in place so that we could actually finish the war," she said at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he had not seen any signs in the last 48 hours of Russia respecting any form of energy ceasefire deal.

A person familiar with the situation said the US had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine and weapons under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) system to pressure Kyiv. 

Under Trump, the United States has already largely stopped supplying Ukraine with weapons but lets European countries buy them on Kyiv's behalf under the PURL.