Zelenskyy on energy truce: Russians merely postponed strikes
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the energy truce, said Russia merely postponed strikes on the energy sector.
He said this at a press conference with Mark Rutte in Kyiv, Censor.NET reports.
Details
"At the end of the meeting in Abu Dhabi, the American side proposed de-escalation steps, as they called them. Not to strike energy infrastructure. To be honest, they also raised the issue of not striking other critical infrastructure. But we saw that there were strikes on the railway and so on. There were no strikes on the energy sector," he noted.
According to Zelenskyy, the United States thought it would work for a week.
"If you look at that strike package Russia wanted to use at the moment the talks in Abu Dhabi ended, there was simply less of it. What did they do? They postponed the strike, increased the number of missiles and drones, and struck on the coldest days," the head of state stressed.
"So I would not say that someone gave us something as a gift. I do not believe that is what happened. The position of the U.S. President was reasonable — to show the world that de-escalation steps are underway. We start with such steps, from one meeting to the next; the Americans logically proposed doing this until the next meeting. And that is how it should have been," he added.
Zelenskyy noted that the Russians struck with one and a half times as many drones as they could have earlier.
Background
- As reported, three people were injured as a result of the Russian Federation's night attack on Kyiv. In the capital, high-rise buildings, a kindergarten, a petrol station and an administrative building were damaged.
- Kharkiv was also under attack by Russia: hundreds of homes will be left without heat due to the attack on the thermal power plant.
- In addition, the enemy attacked DTEK's thermal power plants, causing significant damage to equipment.
- The Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi districts are mostly without heat, and 1,170 high-rise buildings are not being heated.
- The enemy also attacked Vinnytsia region, hitting critical infrastructure facilities.
- Emergency power cuts have been introduced in part of the left bank of Kyiv.
- In addition, Russia attacked the Odesa region, and critical infrastructure is now running on generators.
- Shmyhal reported that Russia attacked eight regions, targeting thermal power plants and thermal power stations that provided heating in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
Energy truce
- As a reminder, a day earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had personally asked Russian dictator Vladimir Putin not to shell Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for a week. Putin, according to Trump, allegedly agreed.
- President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked U.S. leader Donald Trump, who said he had asked Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to stop shelling Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.
- In turn, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would respond reciprocally if Russia does not strike Ukraine’s energy.
