KYIV, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Russia has observed a ceasefire over Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday as Kyiv prepared for the next round of trilateral talks on ending the war.
Zelenskiy said Russia has not carried out any targeted missile or drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the past 24 hours although energy facilities in forward areas have come under attack.
“The de-escalation measures… are helping to build public confidence in the negotiation process and its possible outcome. The war needs to end,” Zelenskiy said after meeting with his negotiating team ahead of the next round of peace talks with Russian and American officials coming this week in Abu Dhabi.
“Ukraine is ready for real steps. We believe it is realistic to achieve a dignified and lasting peace.”
Russia and Ukraine said last week they had halted attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure, but disagreed on a timeframe for the truce.
The Kremlin said that US President Donald Trump made a personal request to Russian President Vladimir Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv until February 1st. Zelenskiy said the truce was to last for a week, starting on January 30.
UKRAINE STRIVES TO RESTORE ENERGY SUPPLIES
Ukraine is struggling to restore its battered power system and ensure electricity and heating supplies for the population after several major Russian strikes this month. Repair work was complicated by very cold temperatures.
“Today we are reaching the critical point. We need some time to recover what was destroyed for the last three months,” Maxim Timchenko, CEO of private power producer DTEK, told Reuters.
“… an energy ceasefire is extremely important for us to partially recover and avoid any tragic consequences due to no energy supply.”
DTEK said on Monday one of its coal mining enterprises in the Dnipropetrovsk region was attacked for the second time in 24 hours. The previous strike on Sunday killed 12 miners at a coal mine in the region, the company said.
Zelenskiy also said that Russian forces were focusing on attacking transport logistics, especially rail infrastructure.
Regional officials say a Russian strike has killed a father and son, and wounded two children and their mother in the frontline Donetsk region.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Olena Harmash and Mykhailo Moskalenko; Writing by Olena Harmash, Editing by Ros Russell)