How Elon Musk can unlock a Russia-Ukraine energy truce and help save lives

Russia and Ukraine have “agreed” not to strike each other’s energy infrastructure, President Donald Trump asserted Monday — perhaps aiming to accelerate a deal that reportedly remains under negotiation and which Moscow has previously resisted.While Kyiv quickly expressed readiness for an energy truce, the Kremlin has remained conspicuously silent.It’s not hard to guess why.Vladimir Putin knows that Ukraine, short on air defenses, is staring down the barrel of its hardest winter yet — and he wants to exploit that vulnerability.But there’s a way to blunt the Russian bombardment, and improve diplomacy’s chances in the process.Ukraine, unable to intercept enough Russian “arrows,” should be permitted to use the Starlink satellite internet service to take out the “archers” inside Russia.Despite Trump’s efforts to revive peace talks by dispatching envoys to Moscow and Kyiv earlier this month, Putin appears determined to continue fighting.On the front lines, Ukraine is in its strongest position since 2023.Ukrainian forces are stymieing Russia’s advances and pursuing reforms under a new, forward-thinking general, Mykhailo Drapatyi.In the air, however, Russia is conducting relentless drone and missile strikes, aimed mainly at undermining defense-industrial production and throttling Ukrainian exports.As the weather cools, Russia will likely return to focusing on attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.To be sure, Ukraine is punching back harder than ever, successfully striking oil refineries and other targets deep inside Russia.Yet Putin evidently calculates that Russia can inflict “much more painful and much more destructive” blows than Ukraine can, as he boasted last month.One problem for Ukraine is Russia’s ramped-up production of jet-powered attack drones and low-cost cruise missiles.These munitions fly too fast for Ukraine’s existing interceptor drones, so they’re stretching its stocks of the expensive air defense missiles needed...