Updated

On October 9, President Trump announced he had reached a deal with Vladimir Putin, following a phone call, for Russia to supply diesel fuel to US and global markets, and separately claimed Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an 'energy ceasefire.' Zelensky said the ceasefire announcement came as news to him and called the diesel deal 'an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged,' while Kremlin spokesman Peskov and Lavrov gave ambiguous or contradictory signals about compliance. In the days that followed, Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of violations: Kyiv said it halted strikes on Russian energy infrastructure while Russia kept hitting Ukrainian power facilities and refineries, and the EU's Kaja Kallas said Brussels had seen no evidence of Russian compliance. The affair also exposed US pressure on Kyiv: the Financial Times reported Washington threatened to cut intelligence-sharing and halt the PURL arms-purchase mechanism unless Ukraine stopped striking Russian oil refineries, and a White House source said Trump was 'really mad' about continued Ukrainian refinery strikes. Germany and other allies said they would not follow the US example and pressed for tougher sanctions instead, while critics, including NHL legend Dominik Hašek, likened the Trump-Putin diesel arrangement to the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact. Zelensky argued Ukraine holds leverage via refinery strikes and said any halt must be matched by Russia stopping attacks on Ukraine's energy grid.