Russia agrees to limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine, White House says
Russia has agreed to a limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire as part of the US-led initiative to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House has confirmed.
In a statement released after Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin, the White House said the two sides agreed to hold “technical negotiations” on a maritime ceasefire, and, further, full ceasefire and permanent peace.
“These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” the White House said.
Trump and Putin also “agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the US and Russia has huge upside,” with “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability.”
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Vladimir Putin
Today, President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. They also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people.
This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts. The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.
The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.
The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.
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It’s worth noting the equivalence implied in the wording of the limited ceasefire agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin regarding attacks on energy infrastructure during the war.
The Kremlin’s readout (in Russian) said Trump put forward “a proposal for the parties to the conflict to mutually refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days”.
The Kremlin has continually claimed, falsely, that it has never attacked power plants used to generate electricity for civilians. For instance, following last month’s bilateral talks in Riyadh, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said:
We clarified [to the US] that we have never threatened systems supplying power to civilians, and that only the sites directly supplying the Ukrainian armed forces have been our targets.
But repeated attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been a key element of Russia’s war effort. Just one example was a few months ago on Christmas Day, where a massive Russian aerial attack used cruise missiles to target energy infrastructure across Ukraine, which Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as “inhuman”. The attack left half a million people in Kharkiv region without heating, in temperatures just a few degrees celsius above zero, while there were blackouts in the capital, Kyiv, and elsewhere.
More recently, just over a week ago Zelenskyy said Moscow launched overnight attacks on Ukraine’s energy and gas infrastructure. It targeted facilities in several regions, including Odesa and Poltava, using nearly 70 cruise and ballistic missiles and almost 200 attack drones.
“All of this was directed against infrastructure that ensures normal life,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media.
Kyiv has demonstrated a growing willingness to target energy installations and fuel facilities in Russia in retaliation.
