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Kyiv is ready for an energy ceasefire with Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia has yet to make the same commitment.
In an interview with CBS, Zelenskyy said US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner raised the possibility during their recent visit to Kyiv. He said Ukraine agreed, on condition that Russia also stops all attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure**.**
“We never attack first. Our tactic is to respond where we can because Putin doesn’t respect and won’t even think of negotiating with weaklings,” Zelenskyy said.
“When Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were here, they proposed thinking about refineries and other energy. I told them we are ready for an energy ceasefire, but you need to know what that means for Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy stressed that an energy ceasefire would have to cover different types of infrastructure: Russian oil and gas facilities targeted by Kyiv, and the electricity and gas infrastructure Moscow has repeatedly struck in Ukraine**.**
“For Putin, energy is selling oil and gas. For us, energy is having electricity and gas supplies for our people,” Zelenskyy said.
“My message was, if the Russians are ready for an energy ceasefire, it means no strikes of any kind with any type of weapon on energy.”
But Moscow is yet to change its tactic. Right after Donald Trump announced the energy truce, the Kremlin-affiliated outlets presented it as a one-way measure, claiming Kyiv will stop its long-range strikes. There was no word regarding Moscow not attacking Ukraine.
The Kremlin has described the proposal as a “very good idea,” but has also linked the wider energy issue to safe commercial shipping, particularly for oil tankers, and the lifting of sanctions on Russia.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian refineries and other oil infrastructure, saying that energy revenues help finance Moscow’s ongoing all-out war.
Russia meanwhile has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s electricity and gas infrastructure, leaving the country and millions of Ukrainians particularly vulnerable as it prepares for another winter of war.