President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said that Kyiv was ready to support a U.S. proposal for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire on energy sites only if Washington could ensure Moscow was genuinely ready to end its war on Ukraine.
Zelenskiy made his comments in his nightly video address on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Ukraine and Russia had both agreed not to hit each other’s energy targets.
“If this can become the first de-escalatory step, a step towards ending Russian strikes against our critical infrastructure and our strikes in response, Ukraine is ready to support de-escalation,” Zelenskiy said.
“So far, no one has seen any genuine willingness on Russia’s part to bring the war to an end. But if our American partners can secure Russia’s genuine readiness to end the war aimed at destroying lives, and to do so honestly and on a long-term basis, Ukraine will take its own de-escalatory steps.”
In its 4-1/2-year-long war, Russia has often struck Ukrainian energy sites, a campaign that has caused major damage to heating and power networks and severely disrupted both industry and the daily lives of civilians.
Ukraine’s military has for months launched its own attacks on Russian industrial sites, particularly Russia’s oil industry, a mainstay of the national economy. Those attacks caused serious shortages of petrol in many Russian regions.
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