Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will strike Russia's power grid in kind if Russia attacks what remains of Ukraine's generation capacity this winter in a widely anticipated winter bombardment, but at the same time proposed an energy truce before the attacks begin.

"Ukraine is capable of responding to Russia for any of their operations," he said at the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv on September 11 and in an interview with the American journalist Fareed Zakaria. "Russia knows that if they strike, and they are preparing to strike our energy system in the winter, Russia will receive the exact same. If they cause us blackouts, we will try to respond to them in kind."

But he soften the edge of this threat to keep the dialog open: "I'm not comparing this to the humanitarian catastrophes they are causing today. Ukraine does not do that," he said, while making clear that strikes on strategic infrastructure would not go unanswered.

Ukraine went into the war with 54.5GW of generation capacity but after four years of attacks only has some 12GW left – mostly nuclear power plants (NPPs) – and is running its system already with an estimated 5GW energy deficit. Russian President Vladimir Putin attempted to freeze Ukraine into submission last winter and has reportedly ramped up its missile production at a time when Ukraine has run out of Patriot interceptor missiles and has also stockpiled missiles for the coming campaign. To add to Bankova’s woes, Russia is now also receiving supplies of North Korea-made ballistic missiles which have also recently entered the fray.

Face with a devastating winter, Zelenskiy is starting to sound more desperate as he looks for a way through. His offer, coupled with the threat, is narrower than a ceasefire and more specific. "Unblock the Black Sea and find a way toward an energy truce, if one can use that phrase, where the energy sector of both countries is protected," he said. "In other words, if the Russians do not strike our energy system, and our people have electricity, Ukraine will likewise refrain from responding," Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The US special envoy Jared Kushner who was recently in Kyiv to meet with Zelenskiy, said the sticking point was Bankova’s refusal to give up territory in the Donbas. “If Ukraine agreed to that a deal could be done. But so far it has refused.”

Zelenskiy emphasised the Black Sea part of his deal was as important as the energy assets. A sustained attack on Odesa which handles some 90% of Ukraine’s grain exports, has brought the port to a standstill and cut Bankova off from its main source of foreign exchange earnings.

Domestic supply is not the issue, he said: "Ukrainians will not be left without food. Grain prices will fall domestically because exporting will be expensive, commercial infrastructure will be complicated, and logistics will be terrible."

"But beyond Ukraine, other nations will be in a far worse situation where they simply will not have food," he went on. This is the same “Africa will starve” rhetoric that surrounded the Black Sea Grain Initiative deal in 2022 that briefly lifted a Russian blockage to allow for grain exports, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out repeating that deal last month due to, what he claimed, was backtracking on the terms of that deal four years ago. Now Zelenskiy is bring the same arguments up again in an effort to pressure Moscow and rally his international allies.

"Many peoples will have nothing to eat, even if they have money. That will be Hormuz, but agricultural. And this is a grave problem that cannot be solved by Ukraine alone." He said he had raised maritime food transport directly with the leaders of Egypt, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

He also asked Washington to tighten sanctions and push through the “hellish sanctions” tabled by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, which have passed in the House but are stalled in the Senate. "Sanctions need to be introduced now. Sanctions must be strong," he said. "During a war, it is better to make an imperfect decision at times than to do nothing at all," Ukrinform reports.

Nothing in the proposal has been put to Russia formally and Moscow has not responded. A partial energy and Black Sea understanding was discussed in March 2025 and did not hold.