Trump Tells Ukraine to Get a New Leader and Declares an Energy Ceasefire Kyiv Says It Wasn't Told About

On 11 October the President posted on Truth Social: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine… Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”

Volodymyr Zelensky said the ceasefire “was news for me.” A senior Ukrainian official said: “Nobody has heard [of the ceasefire].” Overnight, Russia struck the Kharkiv power plant.

Two days of escalation

The post came a day after the President called for Ukraine to replace its leader. Asked on 10 October whether buying Russian diesel puts Ukrainians at risk, he said: “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.” He added: “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” and of Zelensky’s strikes on Russian refineries: “He better damn well stop.” According to Axios, he made the diesel deal after Zelensky ignored about six US requests to halt those strikes.

Zelensky had called the diesel deal “not fair and not honest” and a “birthday gift” to Putin.

On 11 October the Financial Times reported, citing European officials, that US officials warned Kyiv and European capitals in calls that weapons purchases through PURL, the NATO-funded scheme to buy US arms for Ukraine, and intelligence sharing could stop unless the strikes on Russian energy end. The White House declined to comment. If carried out, that would cut off the main channel through which US weapons now reach Ukraine, as covered in our PURL post.

The Miami talks

The threats followed talks in Miami on 9 October among US, Ukrainian, European and NATO officials. They ran six hours. A planned second day was cancelled. Special envoy Steve Witkoff called the meeting “constructive.”

The New York Times reported on 10 October, citing unnamed officials, that Witkoff and Jared Kushner had offered Russia incentives for a partial ceasefire on energy or shipping: talks on releasing up to $100 billion in frozen Russian reserves, a revived sale of Lukoil’s foreign assets to a Middle Eastern consortium, and sanctions relief for Belarusian potash. The White House hasn’t confirmed it. Ukraine’s foreign minister said one-sided concessions “project Western weakness.”

The President spoke to Putin for 90 minutes on 9 October. Putin’s adviser Yuri Ushakov called the call “very substantive and friendly,” and said Putin rejected resuming formal talks.

The war on the ground

Zelensky said Russia launched about 1,450 aerial bombs, 75 missiles and more than 1,640 drones in a single week. He told ABC he would hold an election if Russia agreed to a 60-day ceasefire. The Kremlin said it wants a long-term settlement, not a truce. Britain, Germany and Poland reaffirmed support for Zelensky.

Why it matters

Calling for an ally’s leader to be replaced is a break with how Washington has dealt with Kyiv since 2022. Threatening intelligence and weapons would turn words into policy, as the short pause in March 2025 did. Congress, out until November, has few tools to stop it. There’s no appropriation to protect, since PURL runs on allies’ money.