Russia's offensive ability is broken, Kyiv's former top general tells BBC
In his first interview since being forced from his post, Gen Syrskyi speaks about Ukraine's future in the war.
On October 12, U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to cease strikes on energy infrastructure, even though neither nation had officially confirmed this. Trump stated that he had convinced them to agree, as he declared the ceasefire himself. This announcement came after Trump unilaterally declared an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on October 11, which sparked confusion in Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials reported that they had not received any prior information about the alleged ceasefire.
When questioned about Russia continuing to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, Trump maintained that both sides had violated the alleged ceasefire, without providing any evidence. Hours after his announcement, Russia struck Kharkiv's CHP-5 power plant, and overnight attacks on October 11-12 resulted in at least 10 deaths and 69 injuries due to Russia targeting residential buildings and energy infrastructure across Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his readiness to accept the ceasefire if Trump negotiated it with Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, Russia's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia had no comment on the energy ceasefire announced by Trump. Despite the attacks continuing, Zelensky mentioned that Ukraine would halt its strikes against Russian refineries only if Moscow ceased its attacks against the Ukrainian power grid, which he deemed unreasonable due to Ukraine's single, damaged refinery.
Trump's announcement to cease strikes on energy infrastructure followed his decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil on October 9, which could provide Moscow with a significant funding boost for its war efforts. This move caught Ukrainian officials off guard, as it was made without their knowledge. On October 12, the Kyiv Independent learned that the U.S. administration threatened to cut intelligence sharing and weapons shipments to Ukraine if more Russian oil refineries were targeted in attacks. Trump told reporters on October 12, "We'll get it done."
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Independent's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Kyiv says Russia hits energy targets despite Trump ceasefire announcement dailymaverick.co.za
- Trump says Ukraine, Russia agree to energy strike ceasefire 'because I said they agreed' kyivindependent.com
- Reuters: Witkoff and Kushner told Kyiv that a diesel deal with Russia would help bring the Kremlin back to the negotiating table meduza.io
- Trump insists energy ceasefire holds as Ukraine reports new Russian strikes aljazeera.com
- Russia's offensive ability is broken, Kyiv's former top general tells BBC bbc.co.uk
- Trump comments on Russia's violation of energy truce ukrinform.net
