Ukraine offers Russia an Easter pause on energy strikes
Derek Gatopoulos |
Ukraine is proposing to Russia a pause in attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure over the Orthodox Easter holiday.
The offer was made through the United States, which has been mediating talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as Russia’s invasion stretches into a fifth year.
“If Russia is ready to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we will be ready to respond in kind,” the Ukrainian leader said in a public address late on Monday.
“This proposal, conveyed through the Americans, has already been presented to the Russian side.”
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the proposal.
Previous attempts to secure ceasefires have had little or no impact.
Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour ceasefire in Easter 2025, but each side accused the other of breaking it.
Russia effectively rejected a 30-day unconditional truce proposed in 2025 by the US and Ukraine as a step towards peace, insisting instead on a comprehensive settlement, but Moscow has announced several short, unilateral ceasefires.
Zelenskiy said he doubted the Kremlin would take up his offer for the April 12 holiday pause as Russia was benefiting from higher oil prices driven by the Iran war.
Zelenskiy is concerned that a prolonged US-Israeli war on Iran could erode America’s support for Ukraine.
The US-led talks have made no progress on key issues, as Washington’s attention is held by the Middle East conflict, and the Russian and Ukrainian armies remain locked in battle on the roughly 1250km front line.
At the same time, Russia has pounded Ukraine’s power grid in an effort to demoralise civilians while Kyiv’s domestically produced long-range drones have repeatedly hit Russian oil infrastructure in a bid to dent Moscow’s main export revenue.
Russia is also targeting public transport, including Ukraine’s vital rail network and bus services.
A Russian drone struck a bus as it approached a stop on Tuesday morning, killing four civilians and injuring 15 others, in the southeastern Ukraine city of Nikopol, authorities said.
“This brutal attack on civilian regular transportation occurred during rush hour, when people were just going to work,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko wrote in an online post.
“This is not an accident, it’s their (Russian) tactic: deliberate strikes on civilians.”
Also, Ukrainian authorities said three people were killed and three others were injured in an attack on a residential building in the southern city of Kherson.
An 11-year-old boy was killed in a drone strike near the eastern city of Synelnykove, officials there said, bringing the day’s civilian death toll to eight.
Government and military authorities also reported power cuts in several eastern and southern areas in Ukraine following artillery and drone strikes.
AP