The Young Global Citizen Daily

A ceasefire is an agreement to stop fighting. On Sunday, President Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy sites. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine backed the idea and was ready to sign “guarantees”, but that Russian forces hit at least six Ukrainian energy facilities after it was announced. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, rejected any pause in the fighting. Mr Trump said there had been “violations on both sides”, and called the war “ridiculous”. He also claimed, without evidence, that at least 32,000 people had been killed this month alone.

The latest strikes came overnight. Zelenskyy says they left at least 600,000 Ukrainians without electricity. Ukraine’s emergency service says at least three people were killed and 21 injured in Kyiv. Russia’s defence ministry says it targeted communications and energy sites in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions that Ukraine’s military uses. Zelenskyy also said Washington warned it could cut intelligence sharing unless Ukraine stops long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Fuel politics is tangled in this story. Two days before his announcement, Trump temporarily eased US sanctions on Russian diesel, which drew criticism from Europe and Ukraine. Twelve US senators from both parties called the diesel deal a “betrayal of the people of Ukraine”, and Zelenskyy said it would not lower fuel prices. Meanwhile EU foreign ministers approved the largest set of sanctions since 2022, adding about 1,569 people and businesses to the list.

Each month the government measures how fast prices are rising, using the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. The September report showed prices up 3.7 percent from a year earlier, compared with 3.4 percent in August. Economists had expected 3.6 percent. Core inflation, which leaves out energy and food, was 2.6 percent, up from 2.4 percent.

Fuel drove the jump. Gasoline rose 9.1 percent from August to September and made up more than half of the monthly rise. AAA says a gallon averaged $4.33 on Wednesday, up from $2.98 before the war with Iran began. Diesel averaged $6.29 a gallon. Over the year, energy prices are up 20.4 percent and airline fares 22.4 percent.

That puts pressure on the Federal Reserve, the central bank. In September it raised its benchmark rate for the first time since 2023, to between 3.75 and 4 percent, and officials signalled more rises this year. Its target for inflation is 2 percent. A CBS News poll found nine in ten Americans say prices are the most important factor shaping their view of the economy.