If Russia stops striking Ukrainian infrastructure, Kiev will take it as an invitation to peace, the Financial Times reports
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has floated the idea of mutually suspending long-range strikes against energy infrastructure with Russia, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The proposal was reportedly slated for discussion at Qatar-mediated talks, which were canceled after Kiev attacked Russia’s Kursk Region in August.
”We saw during the first summit that there could be a decision on energy security. In other words, we do not attack their energy infrastructures, they don’t attack ours. Could this lead to the end of the war’s hot phase? I think so,” Zelensky told journalists on Monday, as quoted by the British newspaper. The summit he was referring to was hosted by Switzerland in June and excluded Russia.
Moscow has used missiles and drones to devastate Ukraine’s energy generation capacity to cripple weapons production and military logistics. Kiev has deployed long-range drones against Russian oil refineries and fuel storage facilities.
The Washington Post reported in August that Moscow and Kiev were supposed to hold indirect negotiations in Qatar to discuss the suspension of infrastructure attacks. The proposed talks were called off after Ukraine invaded Kursk Region that month, sources told the Post. The Russian delegation declined to go to Doha, citing the escalation of the conflict. The Ukrainians still wanted to go, but the Qatari government saw no benefit in a one-sided meeting, the report said.
Former Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who now serves as the secretary of the National Security Council, said in an interview in early September that Moscow had received a Turkish request to suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and merchant ships trading with the country. Russia was willing to consider it, he stated, but the Ukrainians rejected the idea. Shoigu did not say when Ankara made the request.
The Russian military has reported on several occasions that it struck ports in Ukraine to thwart shipments of Western weapons and munitions by sea. In his statement on Monday, Zelensky said, “when it comes to energy and freedom of navigation, getting a result on these points would be a signal that Russia may be ready to end the war.”
Ukrainian forces have suffered a series of defeats on the battlefield in recent months. Meanwhile, Zelensky has urged Kiev’s Western backers to dramatically escalate their participation in the conflict in support of his ‘victory plan’.
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