Russia must make first move on energy, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in New York on Monday for the United Nations General Assembly’s annual “high-level week” and a Tuesday meeting on the sidelines with U.S. President Donald Trump, the talks focused on efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war and a possible energy infrastructure truce.
An unnamed Ukrainian official told the Kyiv Independent that the meeting “could change a lot,” billing the talks as a follow-up to a Sunday phone call between the two leaders.
A potential energy truce is high on the agenda after Trump repeatedly linked surging global fuel prices to attacks on Russian refineries. Under the deal under discussion, Ukraine would halt its long-range strikes against Russia’s energy infrastructure in exchange for Moscow stopping attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, as well as other critical infrastructure and food exports.
On Monday, with U.S. diesel at the pump at a record average of $6.51 a gallon, Trump said Russia had “lost control” of its oil sector and that the whole world was suffering because of “this ridiculous and never ending” war with Ukraine and that it must be stopped.
Speaking Monday night, Zelensky framed his priorities. “Of course, Ukraine’s number one priority is bringing peace closer and protecting the lives of our people,” he said. “There are concrete security proposals and de-escalation measures that could bring the end of the war closer. We are working to strengthen air defense and ensure sufficient financing for Ukraine.”
Zelensky stressed, however, that while an energy cease-fire would represent a “strong de-escalation” bringing peace closer, Russia needed to make the first move to elicit “matching de-escalations steps on our part.”
The diplomatic track comes as strikes on energy infrastructure have escalated. Ukraine badly damaged a refinery in the Moscow region on Sunday in one of the largest attacks on the capital region of the four-and-a-half-year-old war, killing three people.
A day later, a Russian airborne attack on a residential tower block and a shopping center in Zaporizhzhia killed at least six people and injured 38.
Ukraine argues that damaging Russia’s energy sector affects both Moscow’s ability to fund the war and its ability to wage it, and is therefore a legitimate military target.
Fears that Ukraine could face another difficult winter grew after Moscow recently vowed to retaliate with “massive strikes” targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with Ukrainians already struggling to keep warm due to damaged gas and electricity plants and their distribution networks.