Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure targets in Ukraine for 30 days after a phone call with US President Donald Trump.
Putin ordered the Russian military to stop strikes against energy facilities, the Kremlin said in a statement following a lengthy phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday. But he stopped short of accepting a broader US-backed 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine has said it is ready to implement.
Russia’s leader raised concerns that such a truce could be used by Ukraine to mobilise more soldiers and rearm during a pause in the countries’ two-year war.
Putin also indicated to Trump that “the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”, according to the Kremlin.
In a statement, the White House said the leaders agreed that talks on a potential maritime truce as well as a broader ceasefire would begin “immediately” in the Middle East.
Trump and Putin agreed to move towards peace beginning 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”.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that the conversation with Putin was a “very good and productive one”.
It was not immediately clear if Ukraine would agree to halt attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
Attacks on energy targets have been a constant feature of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow’s strikes on critical energy infrastructure regularly forcing power cuts across the country, affecting everything from heating and water distribution to sewage and public health.
Thousands of people in central Ukraine were left without electricity on Tuesday following a countrywide Russian attack involving more than 130 drones that damaged critical infrastructure.
Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, oil depots and industrial sites have also risen since January. The attacks knocked out up to about 10 percent of Russian refining capacity during some weeks of February when the refineries were hit the hardest, according to an analysis by Reuters news agency.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said Kyiv would likely be wary that the proposal is limited to attacks on energy targets.
“The Ukrainians will be concerned that the Russians will use this period to try and make more land gains, which is why they’re not agreeing to an entire ceasefire,” he said.
“That is a concern for [Kyiv] and something that they had raised with the Americans in the past.”
Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Moscow, said the call appeared to show there was “some momentum” to the diplomacy.
“What the Russians are looking for is guarantees that Ukraine does not use this period to mobilise and rearm. That is certainly a sticking point for Vladimir Putin,” she said.
“The Kremlin has made it very clear that this is a condition for any kind of long-term peace settlement,” she added.
Europeans back Ukraine
European leaders said they would continue to bolster their support for Kyiv.
“We both agree that Ukraine can count on us, that Ukraine can count on Europe and that we will not let [Kyiv] down,” said outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while speaking alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at a news conference in Berlin.
“We will continue to support the Ukrainian army in its war of resistance against Russian aggression,” Macron said.
Scholz said a complete ceasefire should be agreed as soon as possible.
“The next step must be a complete ceasefire for Ukraine and as quickly as possible. Of course, it is clear that we both agree on this, too,” Scholz at the news conference with Macron.
