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Morning Edition · Tuesday, October 13, 2026Published at 1:12 AM EDT · New York
Trump says Russia and Ukraine agreed to stop striking energy sites, but neither government confirms it and the attacks continue
Kyiv says it had no prior notice of the truce, the Kremlin says only that "contacts continue," and drone strikes on Yandex data centers have disrupted payments across Russia.
US President Donald Trump insisted that an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is holding and urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin to end what he called a "ridiculous war." Asked how he knew the two sides had agreed, Trump said they had agreed "because I said they agreed." Trump announced the truce on October 11. A senior Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine had no prior information about it.
Neither capital has confirmed the deal. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said "contacts are continuing" and that Moscow would comment when it had something to say, according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He added that Russia seeks a durable peace and not a temporary pause. Zelenskyy said Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure are continuing. Ukrinform reported that a Russian missile strike on Kharkiv injured 11 people.
Russian officials report a heavy drone campaign of their own. Air defenses destroyed 73 drones over the Kaluga region, where a school, two private houses and a car were damaged in the Mosalsk district, according to BFM.ru. RIA Novosti reported 14 drones shot down over the Tula region.
The Ukrainian strikes have reached Russia's digital economy. Drones damaged Yandex data centers in Kaluga, in Sasovo in the Ryazan region and in Vladimir, which caused widespread outages across Russian websites and banks running on Yandex Cloud, according to the Russian finance outlet T-Zhurnal. The independent Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported that users could not reach their Yandex Pay balances for a second day, and that some missed loan and mortgage payments as a result. The banking channel Bankrollo said transfers through Russia's Faster Payments System partially resumed for some users late Monday.
Part of a tracked trend
Ukraine's Deep Strikes on Russian Energy and Logistics
Ukraine sustains a campaign against Russian refineries and supply lines over the next 3-6 months, pressuring Moscow's oil revenue while Russia retaliates against Ukraine's grid.
Veracity: Corroborated
82/100- If true, who benefits
Washington can claim progress toward calmer energy markets before the midterms without enforcing anything. Moscow gains if the truce stops Ukrainian strikes on its refineries and data centers, and Kyiv gains if it protects its power grid before winter.
- The nuance
The Kremlin did not deny the truce. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, called the idea "very good" but tied it to unhindered Russian oil exports, which the article omits. Kyiv says no one consulted it, and neither side has published terms or a way to verify compliance.
An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. How we label confidence.
What this means
Both sides now aim strikes at the systems that keep the other's economy running. For Ukraine that means the power grid. For Russia it means refineries and, now, the cloud servers behind its payments and retail platforms. Each side wants a truce only on terms that protect its own targets while keeping its leverage. Washington's announcement does not change what either side can do, because no monitoring or enforcement mechanism exists. The connection to markets runs through the diesel deal: the White House wants calmer energy markets, and announcing a truce serves that goal whether or not the truce actually holds. The March 2025 energy-strike moratorium is the precedent. Both sides accused each other of violations within days, and it lapsed without renewal. The likelier outcome over the next few weeks is that strikes continue under a nominal truce and Russian companies spend more on hardening and duplicating data centers. A joint Russian-Ukrainian statement setting out verifiable terms, followed by a week without reported energy strikes, would prove this read wrong.
Synthesized from: Kyiv Independent · Al Jazeera · BFM.ru · Polylog editors
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