Ukraine and Russia must agree to energy truce, - Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the US continues to press for an energy truce between Ukraine and Russia, and also expressed concern over attacks on US-linked oil.
The US Secretary of State stated this on Fox News on the eve of the opening of the UN General Assembly, according to Censor.NET.
A call for a truce on energy issues
According to him, it would be useful to agree on such a ceasefire — Ukraine should not attack Russian energy facilities, and Russia, in turn, should not attack Ukrainian ones.
"We believe it would be an excellent idea — a ceasefire regarding energy infrastructure, under which Ukraine’s infrastructure would not come under attack, nor would Russian energy facilities", said Rubio.
Concerns over attacks on US-linked oil
The Secretary of State also expressed concern that, over the past few months, ships and oil shipments linked to the US have repeatedly been the targets of Ukrainian attacks — albeit unintentionally.
"This issue needs to be resolved. We cannot allow this to happen," said Rubio.
The Secretary of State did not provide any details of these incidents, but it is known that Ukraine has repeatedly attacked military installations and oil depots in the Novorossiysk area — a hub for the transport of oil from Kazakhstan, which is owned by the American companies Chevron and ExxonMobil.
On the rise in oil prices
Regarding the rise in oil prices, Rubio stated that this was linked to the situation in the Black Sea, as well as in Yemen. Like all other members of the Trump administration, the Secretary of State made no mention of the Strait of Hormuz.
What led up to it?
- On 21 September, US President Donald Trump stated that Russia had lost control of its own oil refining sector due to the war against Ukraine.
- On 14 September, Trump stated that Ukraine and Russia had allegedly reached an agreement to mutually cease attacks on energy infrastructure.
- The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, later replied to Trump that Ukraine was prepared to refrain from striking Russia’s energy infrastructure if its partners guaranteed that Russia would not strike Ukraine’s.
- Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian dictator, described a possible energy truce between Ukraine and the Russian Federation as a "good idea".
