Russia hit no Ukrainian energy targets on Tuesday for the first time since US President Donald Trump‘s weekend announcement of an “energy ceasefire”, while hammering cities’ transport and logistics overnight with ballistic missiles and drones.
Russia’s defence ministry, in its daily summary of overnight strikes, made no mention of Ukrainian energy facilities. A Kremlin spokesman, asked about the energy ceasefire, would only say that contacts were ongoing, but declined to provide any further details. However, one missile came down just over a kilometre from a plant providing heating to much of the city of Lviv, in the west.
Trump’s ceasefire announcement on Sunday came two days after his declaration of a deal that lifted US sanctions on Russian diesel exports to allow Russia to supply almost 2 million metric tons of diesel, a bid to lower US fuel prices.
Reuters and other media outlets have reported that US officials have threatened to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons sales to Ukraine unless it halts its strikes on Russian oil refineries.
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President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Ukraine had not hit Russian refineries for two days, since Trump announced the ceasefire, but that Russia had continued attacks on energy and critical infrastructure during that time. Russia struck six Ukrainian energy sites on Monday.
It was not clear whether Russia had deliberately avoided targeting energy infrastructure overnight into Tuesday.
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Trump has repeatedly blamed Ukrainian attacks – which prompted Moscow to suspend diesel exports – for a sharp rise in US diesel prices this year, a headache for his Republican party ahead of Congressional midterm elections in three weeks. Most analysts, however, say Trump’s war in Iran has had a far greater impact on the price rise.
Four people were killed by Russian strikes in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, and at least a dozen were injured across the country, Ukrainian officials said.
The Ukrainian air force said it had not received prior surveillance warnings before Russia fired six ballistic missiles at Kyiv late Monday, prompting widespread anxiety in online comments from residents. “The causes are being investigated,” it said in a statement.
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Intelligence about preparations for ballistic missile attacks has been part of the information that the US provides to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials say.
Zelensky’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Tuesday that Kyiv continues to receive intelligence data from the United States.
Speaking at a Warsaw security conference, Sybiha said the US request to halt attacks on Russian refineries showed how Ukraine’s position had strengthened, alluding to Trump’s comment to Zelenskiy in a tense Oval Office meeting last year that “you don’t have the cards”.
“In less than two years, we have gone from ‘having no cards’ to ‘not playing your cards’. That is an achievement,” Sybiha said.
Zelensky has said Ukraine supports the idea of an energy truce, but he has accused Moscow of violating the ceasefire – which Moscow has not acknowledged signing up to.
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“This winter, if Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire, we will respond,” Zelensky told a security conference in Warsaw on Monday.
The Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday that damage had been recorded at 17 locations overnight. Air defence units downed 88 out of 108 Russian drones, it said.
A cargo terminal in the southern Mykolaiv region and transport infrastructure in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region were damaged.
In Kharkiv, four people were killed and at least 11 injured in a residential building. In the western Khmelnytskyi region, a hospital was damaged, regional officials said.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
