Ukrain warns of ‘fitting’ winter retaliation, pushes energy truce, Black Sea deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Abdullateef Fowewe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Kyiv is ready to deliver “fitting” retaliatory strikes if Russia carries out large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this winter, while stressing that Ukraine avoids the kind of humanitarian targeting seen in Russian operations.
Sharing a part of his interview with the Yalta European Strategy (YES) forum via X on Friday, he framed the threat as deterrence, not escalation, and renewed calls for a negotiated path to end the war.
Zelenskyy said Russia is preparing to strike Ukraine’s energy system again this winter and that Moscow understands the consequences.
“Russia knows that if they strike – and they are preparing to strike our energy system – Russia will face the same in return.
“If they cause blackouts for us, we will try to respond appropriately,” he said.
He added that Ukraine has “learned to find ways of responding to Russian strikes appropriately,” while insisting, “I’m not comparing it with the humanitarian disasters they are causing today. Ukraine does not do that.”
The remarks come as Russian officials have publicly threatened “massive strikes” on Ukrainian energy sites in response to Kyiv’s own long-range attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure.
Alongside the warning, Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine’s preferred route is diplomacy focused on ending the war.
“But there is an alternative that Ukraine has always supported. That is negotiations,” he said, adding that if Russia is unwilling to end the fighting, “our partners need to find a way to get through to Russia.”
He outlined practical first steps, “Unblock the Black Sea and find a way to establish an energy truce, with the energy systems of both countries protected.”
He also stressed the humanitarian track, calling for continued exchanges of prisoners of war and the return of captured civilians, journalists, and children, and said Kyiv is working “toward a trilateral meeting.”
Recent reporting has cited Ukrainian sources suggesting a limited winter truce on energy strikes could be possible, though the Kremlin has said no substantive talks on such an “energy truce” are underway.
Zelenskyy’s comments follow a recent uptick in Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian fuel and power sites, which he described as “increasingly terrorist in nature,” and as Ukrainian forces have intensified long-range strikes on Russian refineries and energy facilities, including deep targets in Siberia and the Volga region.
