World

President Donald Trump's announced ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia on Sunday carries some significant risks and shows that the president's efforts to make lasting peace between the two countries may be "dead in the water," according to one political analyst.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that "there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE (sic) in the War between Russia and Ukraine" and that "both parties have agreed." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the announcement as a surprise to him, and told Ukrainian citizens in a nightly address that Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure were ongoing despite Trump's announcement.

President Donald Trump was ridiculed en masse Sunday after the purported ceasefire he claimed had been brokered between Russia and Ukraine fell apart within hours.

“What can you even say,” wrote investigative journalist and writer Ilya Lozovsky in a social media post on X.

With the midterms just weeks away, a cascade of attacks across the Middle East has left the Trump administration facing what one geopolitical expert called “only the BEGINNING of the October Surprise,” one that was predicted by another expert months prior.

Yemen’s Houthi militants carried out a deadly attack on Saudi Arabia’s capital Saturday, the third such attack in recent weeks. The Houthis have also strengthened their hold on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a critical global shipping chokepoint, much like the Strait of Hormuz, where strikes have intensified over the past several days, Al Jazeera reported Sunday.

Yemen’s Houthi militants carried out a deadly attack on U.S. ally Saudi Arabia Saturday that killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, but the looming midterms will likely limit the Trump administration’s response, according to conflict analyst Hisham Al-Omeisy.

“Fortunately, I don’t see them rushing for major action,” Al-Omeisy, senior Yemen adviser at the European Institute of Peace, told Al Jazeera for its report published Sunday. “The last thing the administration needs is getting stuck in another quagmire in the region, especially with what’s happening in Hormuz that has not been resolved yet.”

President Donald Trump raced to Truth Social Sunday to announce the brokering of a new ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine — an announcement that stood for mere minutes before it was contradicted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Axios’ Barak Ravid.

Trump claimed that “effective immediately,” a ceasefire had been agreed to by Russia and Ukraine to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. Moments later, however, Ravid claimed to receive conflicting information after speaking with Zelenskyy by phone.

President Donald Trump announced a major development in the Russo-Ukraine war Sunday morning, one he said was “effective immediately.”

“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”

Fears of escalation in the Middle East mounted Saturday night after the U.S. military carried out a strike on a civilian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

“U.S. Central Command forces disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman, Oct. 10, after the ship’s crew ignored repeated warnings and attempted to run the ongoing naval blockade against Iran,” reads a statement from U.S. Central Command. “The large cargo vessel was attempting to transit regional waters after having previously departed an Iranian port.”

The Trump administration pushed a key U.S. ally to carry out strikes on Iran in a bid to “avoid political fallout” before the midterms, according to an explosive report from The Jerusalem Post published on Saturday — a report that two U.S. officials denied within hours of its publication.

Citing a report from the Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Maariv, The Jerusalem Post details a supposed pressure campaign from the Trump administration to urge Israel into carrying out strikes on Iran “over the past two weeks.”

Donald Trump still can’t let the Nobel go.

On Saturday morning, a few hours after a late-night Truth Social rant about losing the Peace Prize, the president posted about it again. This time he misspelled it.