Firefighters put out a fire following a Russian air attack on a residential building in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday.Andrii Marienko/The Associated Press
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington was still sharing intelligence with Ukraine, even as Kyiv reported new Russian missile attacks that came without usual warnings and accused Russia of violating an energy truce the U.S. president announced at the weekend.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces attacked Kyiv on Tuesday with ballistic missiles, targeting a thermal power plant, and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a strike on a high-rise apartment building killed two people.
“Once again, no advance warning from our partners,” Zelensky said on Telegram without explaining why no warning was given.
“According to our intelligence, the Russians are preparing further ballistic missile launches,” he said, adding that the attacks showed Russia did not feel bound by Trump’s energy ceasefire.
Trump on Sunday announced a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, but the warring sides have not confirmed the truce.
Russia to supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to U.S. and global market, Trump says
Zelensky has come under pressure from Trump to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries after the U.S. president eased sanctions on Russian diesel exports, arguing the move would help lower fuel prices ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump said Washington continued to share intelligence with Ukraine and was working with both Kyiv and Moscow to end the war. “We are helping them, and we are sharing intel,” he said.
Kyiv relies heavily on U.S. intelligence for early warnings of missile strikes and for its own targeting of Russian military sites, experts and officials say.
Trump was asked whether Russia had violated the ceasefire and answered: “I’ll let you know about that later.”
Asked if Russia could use proceeds from the diesel deal to purchase more bombs, Trump sidestepped the question. “That’s a diesel deal, not for us. That’s being released into the world. That’s not being released to us.”
Ukrainian rescuers work to clear rubble as they operate at the site of an apartment building in Kharkiv, after it was heavily damaged in a Russian drone strike overnight.SERGEY BOBOK/AFP/Getty Images
Zelensky told NPR in an interview that U.S. intelligence sharing had not stopped, but his generals had been warned that it might be.
“My generals told me that on the level of military people, they’ve got this information,” he said.
NPR said Zelensky was careful to avoid direct criticism of Trump, but he did say the decision on diesel sanctions would not affect prices in the United States.
“I’m sure ... because the volume is not enough,” Zelensky said, according to excerpts broadcast by NPR. “But it’s quite enough for Russia to spend more ... more money, much money, on the war,” he added.
Zelensky said Ukraine had not targeted Russian refineries since Trump’s announcement on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine was still receiving U.S. military intelligence and attributed the delay to the type of weapon Russia had used.
As Ukraine fights a larger, richer and better-equipped enemy, Kyiv has seen strikes on Russian oil refineries as one of its few instruments to reduce Moscow’s ability to fight.
Yet Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukrainian attacks – which prompted Moscow to suspend diesel exports – for a sharp rise in U.S. fuel prices this year, a headache for his Republican Party ahead of the congressional midterm elections in three weeks.
Most analysts say the U.S. war in Iran has had a far greater impact on the price rise, a view echoed by Zelensky to NPR.
“Everybody understands that,” he said.
Russia struck six Ukrainian energy sites on Monday.
A Kremlin spokesman, asked about the energy ceasefire, would only say that contacts were ongoing, but declined to provide any further details.
In his nightly video address posted on X, Zelensky said he had sent proposals to U.S. officials with a view to new meetings in coming days with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on ways to resolve the conflict.
He said Ukraine supported Trump’s announcement of an energy truce provided that Russia observed it.
“We need to work for peace, we need to look for ways to do the proper actions. Ukraine is ready for meetings,” he said.
Earlier, Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s position, saying that Kyiv was ready for reciprocal steps to de-escalate, calling on partners to pressure Russia.
A Ukrainian delegation held talks in the United States last week and people familiar with the meeting said Witkoff and Kushner told them that a deal to allow Russian diesel exports was part of a bid to draw Russia back to negotiations.
What is the diesel deal between Russia and Trump?
Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies, said Ukraine’s European allies had “very limited” ability to replace U.S. early-warning intelligence about Russian missile strikes.
“Ukraine relies on the so-called Space-Based Infrared System which the U.S. deploys – and the U.S. system is really second to none and only the United States can provide that,” he said.
Sybiha said the U.S. request to halt attacks on Russian refineries showed how Ukraine’s position had strengthened, alluding to Trump’s comment to Zelensky in a tense Oval Office meeting last year that “you don’t have the cards.”
“In less than two years, we have gone from ’having no cards’ to ’not playing your cards’. That is an achievement,” Sybiha said.