Jack Grey
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine has reported further Russian strikes after US President Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" between Kyiv and Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had hit six energy facilities in Ukraine despite the announcement.

Zelensky, who said he was surprised by the news, said that the ceasefire could "become a major step toward ending the war".

He also responded to Trump's calls for a Ukrainian election by stating that to do so, a "full ceasefire" would be required.

But Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Monday that he does not believe Zelensky "deserves a respite" from the war.

• Who is saying what?

Meanwhile, Trump has appeared to defend his recently-announced plan to import diesel from Russia, writing on Truth Social that the EU had "paid Russia 250 Billion Dollars for Energy" adding he "made the right choice" for Americans.

Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine seem to have justified Ukrainian concerns that the US had struck a diesel deal with Russia without securing anything in return, adds BBC News Russian's Liza Fokht.

We're pausing our live coverage, but you can read more in our news story.

Trump's history of declaring energy ceasefires between Russia and Ukrainepublished at 17:16 BST 12 October

17:16 BST 12 October

By Benedict Garman

This isn’t the first time US President Donald Trump has announced an energy ceasefire.

On 14 September he posted: “Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!”

The day before, Trump had said Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities were “hurting the world” and urged Zelensky to stop targeting Russian refineries.

He said he spoke to Zelensky and told him “you gotta take it easy on the refineries”.

Since then Ukraine has carried out 14 strikes on 13 different refineries, including twice in Moscow, while Russia has continued to strike energy facilities in Ukraine.

On 18 March 2025, Trump got Putin and Zelensky to agree that for 30 days they would "not strike energy infrastructure facilities".

But within days Moscow and Kyiv were accusing each other of having "broken" the ceasefire and it didn't last.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Russia would only negotiate "seriously" under pressure, days after Donald Trump announced a temporary easing of US sanctions on Russian diesel. As a result, Merz says Europe will be "maintaining our sanctions against Russia".

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham says he welcomes Trump's "announcement yesterday of a reciprocal energy ceasefire", telling the House of Commons that President Zelensky "has assured me Ukraine would immediately implement it when a start date is confirmed".

French President Emmanuel Macron says he's not noticed "any energy ceasefire from the Russian side", adding there can only be progress "if there is a real truce which is respected by both sides".

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the Warsaw Security Forum earlier that every time a ceasefire is proposed to Russia "to stop bombing critical infrastructure, to cease bombing civilian facilities", it's met with a "brutal and arrogant answer".

Estonia Prime Minister Kristen Michal has posted on X saying "Russia continues to bomb Ukraine's energy infrastructure", and the EU must "stay the course and cut Russia's energy revenues".

European Council President Antonio Costa says "no one wants peace more than Ukraine", announcing that EU members adopted "nearly 1,600 new sanctions listings targeting Russia’s military-industrial complex".

Image source, EPA

Trump has been unwilling at times to hear out Zelenskypublished at 16:42 BST 12 October

16:42 BST 12 October

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

The chances of President Trump responding to President Zelensky's remarks earlier are probably not very high.

Trump did criticise Zelensky over the weekend, saying that Ukraine needed a new leader to negotiate a deal.

Trump has been unwilling at times to hear out Zelensky, often blaming him for the war and the inability of Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict.

The US president has tried to cast a wide net of blame for high gas prices, while arguing that they’re not his fault and will come down soon. We’ve heard that rhetoric from Trump before.

Zelensky’s comments appeared aimed at countering that by reminding the world — and Americans — that the war with Iran has driven up the cost of oil and gas.

Polling shows that Americans are certainly very concerned about that issue. Whether or not Zelensky's message to them will resonate is unclear.

Speaking at a conference in Warsaw earlier today, Ukranian President Zelensky said what Ukraine needs is "American pressure on Russia, not sanctions relief, not concessions, but real pressure".

He noted that "immediately after" Donald Trump's assertion on Sunday that he had brokered an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine, Russia hit a plant in Kharkiv.

These are some of the latest images coming to us from Kharkiv, Sloviansk and the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv as strikes continue.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty images

Mitchell Labiak
BBC Business reporter

The global benchmark oil price has risen despite US President Donald Trump's attempt to drive the price down with his agreement to buy Russian oil.

The cost of contracts to purchase a barrel of Brent crude one month from now, known as futures, climbed over 2% on Monday to $107 (£81).

Brent crude futures were priced at around $70 (£53) a barrel before the start of the US-Israel war with Iran but shot up after the conflict started, with the fighting having severely disrupted the production and transportation of energy in the region.

Brent crude futures tend to drop following signs that there might be an end to the fighting and rise when conflict tensions increase. This has fed through to higher costs for car fuel in many countries, including the US where prices at the pump are a big complaint from voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump has responded to this by making several announcements aimed at reducing oil prices, but analysts have warned that his deal to buy oil from Russia would not have a noticeable impact.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says last night they didn't attack Russian energy facilities "because President Trump said that there would be an energy ceasefire".

In a post on X, external, which he attributes to an interview with Fox News, Zelensky adds: "We did not attack, while Russia attacked our gas stations, energy infrastructure, and other facilities.

"I think it was Putin’s answer to President Trump."

He says the message from Russia is clear: "They don't know anything about the energy ceasefire", as he calls for more pressure on Russia.

Following Trump's announcement of the ceasefire on Sunday, Zelensky said it was "news for me".

Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil and gas sites are unprecedented, experts saypublished at 16:03 BST 12 October

16:03 BST 12 October

Image source, EPA

By Benedict Garman

BBC Verify has spoken to four experts to get their take on the impact of Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil and gas infrastructure.

Samuel Bendett, from the Centre for Naval Analyses, says these attacks are unprecedented. “The entire situation is essentially without precedent for Russia, since the last time its energy infrastructure was targeted this way was in World War Two,” he said.

“Ukrainian strikes have caused multiple waves of fuel shortages in Russia,” said John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

But he said shortages are being seen away from the front line: “I'm not aware of a large impact on fuel supplies to Russian forces.”

Sergey Vakulenko, an oil and gas industry specialist at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told us the attacks are “part of exhaustion and wearing-down warfare, a war strategy aimed at making the population miserable… to make the population desire a quick peace more than anything else and make any sort of peace more acceptable to the population on each side”.

And John Kennedy, from defence think tank RAND Europe, agreed the campaign is designed “to ensure that the Russian population feels the growing cost of the war.” He said: “Coupled with Western economic pressure, Russians now face an objectively worse outlook than at any time since the 1990s.”

Trump has criticised others for buying Russian oil, but now things have changedpublished at 15:55 BST 12 October

15:55 BST 12 October

Nada Tawfik
North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

While Donald Trump defends his diesel deal with Russia, including to members of his own party, it’s worth remembering that he’s been critical of other countries in the past who have done the same.

Last September, he called ongoing purchases of Russian oil by some Nato countries "shocking".

He said it was weakening their bargaining power over Moscow and prolonging the war. He also urged them to place tariffs on China, which is the single largest purchaser of Russian oil.

Trump, meanwhile, slapped India with an additional 25% tariff in August of last year, saying it was because of their continued purchase of Russian crude.

But things have changed now that the president is feeling the pressure of an angry electorate, fed up with high fuels costs that are affecting other goods and leading to higher inflation.

As western allies try to remain united in their pressure on Moscow, Trump's comments now echo far right parties in Europe who want to end sanctions on Russian energy, framing it as an economic necessity rather than a concession to President Putin.

Trump and Putin's diesel deal unlikely to have major impact on diesel pricespublished at 15:42 BST 12 October

15:42 BST 12 October

Theo Leggett
International business correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Russia introduced an export ban in July, following a series of attacks on its refineries by Ukrainian drones. This created shortages in refined products, so the supplies that were available were kept for domestic use.

The ban has now been partially lifted, with 500,000 tonnes to be made available immediately, and several million more in the coming months.

Analysts suggest this could take some of the heat out of wholesale prices, though the amounts are still too small to have a major impact in isolation.

Some doubt whether Russia can actually ramp up its exports significantly, and whether those exports can be sustained.

According to Sarah Raffoul of Argus Consulting, "the bottom line is that Russia’s ability to deliver is the real question".

Refineries in Russia remain heavily disrupted, she points out, and there seems to be limited scope to increase production.

"The headline figures should not be confused with barrels that can reliably reach the market," she adds.

US President Donald Trump appears to have defended his recently-announced plan to import diesel from Russia as the Iran war continues to impact global energy prices.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump says: "The European Union paid Russia 250 Billion Dollars for Energy, and the Fake News Media doesn’t want to get near that story."

He continues: "I made the right choice for the American People - ALWAYS, AMERICA FIRST!"

As a reminder, on Friday Trump announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to release 300,000 tonnes of diesel immediately to the American and global marketplace, followed by 500,000 in November and one million more after that.

Trump is facing a growing backlash over the deal, including from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who described it as a "gift" to Putin.

Russian attacks against Ukrainian energy network more than doubled, data showspublished at 15:16 BST 12 October

15:16 BST 12 October

Image source, EPA

By Benedict Garman

Earlier we reported that the rate of Ukraine’s strikes against Russian oil and gas infrastructure has doubled compared with this time last year.

Analysis of data aggregated by global conflict monitor, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (Acled), shows reported Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure also rose overall.

Acled recorded 2.4 times as many reported Russian attacks affecting Ukraine’s energy network so far this year compared with the same period in 2025. This includes all types of energy infrastructure, not just oil and gas, and includes petrol stations.

The data shows more energy related incidents logged every month than in its equivalent month a year earlier.

“It's a part of exhaustion and wearing-down warfare,” Sergey Vakulenko, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told us. He adds it’s “a war strategy aimed at making the population miserable, employed both by Russia and Ukraine, and to make the population desire a quick peace”.

Trump doubles down after criticism over Russia diesel dealpublished at 15:04 BST 12 October

15:04 BST 12 October

Joe Inwood
World news correspondent

It was just over three weeks ago that President Trump signed into law the "Russia and Iran Sanctions Act".

It was named after the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham - a staunch supporter of Ukraine.

President Trump had given the eulogy at his funeral. The act gave the president sweeping powers to impose sanctions on any countries who bought Russian oil and gas.

Days after signing it, he told the United Nations: "If necessary, I will have to use them. It's time to stop the killing."

That is why Friday’s announcement that President Trump had done a deal with Vladimir Putin to buy Russian diesel has been met with such fury - and accusations of betrayal and hypocrisy. Stopping oil and gas being exported by Russia was stated US policy to that point.

With a single social media post, he not only abandoned that, but promised to do the very thing the bill was trying to prevent.

The powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee put out a statement criticising the move. It was signed by Republican Senators and said: "The United States should not provide Putin with a financial lifeline while Russia continues to kill Ukrainian civilians. The Administration must immediately reverse course."

But - rather than back down, President Trump has doubled down - blaming Ukraine for the global energy crisis and calling on President Zelensky to quit.

Image source, Reuters

Russia has attacked six energy facilities in Ukraine today, says President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The attacks have injured 33 people, he says.

He gives the update on social media, as part of a message thanking the European Union for adopting a new package of sanctions against Russia.

"More pressure on Russian entities" is "the right and indispensable signal if we are serious about ending Russia's war", Zelensky adds.

The EU member states have adopted nearly 1,600 new sanctions targeting Russia's military-industrial complex.

The sanctions were described by President of the European Council António Costa as the "largest single-expansion" of measures against Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhii Koretskyi has given an update against Russian strikes on the country both overnight and on Monday morning.

In the city of Izyum, in the Kharkiv region, one person was injured and seven houses damaged in an attack, he says.

Residential areas in the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk - which sit in the Donetsk region of Donbas - were also hit, he says.

Koretskyi says a Russian drone attack on the city of Kharkiv hit a nine-storey building, with the current number of injured standing at 22 people, including two children.

Oil and gas facilities were also Russian targets across several regions - as were warehouses, logistics companies, shopping centres, railway infrastructure, gas stations and farms, he says.

Three people have been killed in a Russian strike on the Donetsk oblast, says the regional administration.

Among the dead is a 13-year-old girl, says Vadym Filashkin, who heads up the regional government, in an update on Telegram.

Four people were injured in the attack, he adds.

He says that Russia shelled the village of Cherkaske with rockets equipped with cluster munitions, one of which hit a residential home.

Image source, NurPhoto via Getty Images

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha has responded to his Russian counterpart's comments that Ukraine doesn't deserve the "respite" that a ceasefire would bring.

"[Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov, however, has already earned a front-row seat at the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression," says Sybiha.

"The more irrelevant and cynical comments - the more evidence for the Tribunal," he adds.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Tetiana Fisenko

The power is out in parts of Kyiv today as Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure have continued in recent weeks.

Tetiana Fisenko says she is using portable generators and camping LED lights with batteries as there is no power in her home in the city's Nyvky district.

"Last week the energy station in our district was attacked. Just near our house. It was really scary," she says.

"When Russia attacks the electricity services, we also have problems with the water."

On Sunday there was no water in her home from 1400 till 2300 local time.

"The city pump stations don’t have electricity, and it's hard without water especially with a young child at home," she says, adding that the water was on and off all last week too.

On Friday, her home had no electricity for 23 hours.

"We got used to the power outages," she says, "and I really don’t believe anything can stop the attacks of Russia."

Image source, Reuters

Russia would only suspend strikes against Ukraine "specifically on election day", according to Vladimir Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

"If they really want to hold elections in Kyiv, [Putin] will be ready to give an order not to carry out strikes on Ukraine on election day," Peskov said, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

"Specifically on election day. This is a very important clarification," he says, adding that 60-day ceasefire proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky would allow Ukraine to “heal its wounds” and continue the war.

Putin has secured a symbolic victory without giving anything in returnpublished at 13:39 BST 12 October

13:39 BST 12 October

Liza Fokht
BBC News Russian, Senior Reporter

Russia’s evasive comments on the "energy ceasefire" show just how justified Ukrainian concerns were that the US had struck a diesel deal with Russia without getting anything in return.

It is already clear that the agreement to sell diesel to the US is, first and foremost, a symbolic victory for Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president can now claim that he personally helped President Trump at an important moment, while also gaining another opportunity to deepen tensions between Kyiv and Washington.

Russia also has more to gain than the potential revenue from diesel sales. More broadly, Moscow’s war effort is constrained by US intelligence-sharing with Ukraine and by the continued flow of American weapons, even if Europe is now paying for them.

But even if Moscow’s most ambitious hopes do not materialise, the minimum objective has already been achieved: Russia is once again striking deals with the US without any Ukrainian or European involvement, receiving carrots rather than sticks – and without agreeing to any compromises on ending the war.