Ukraine and Russia are in preliminary talks to stop bombing each other’s energy infrastructure.
Qatar acted as a mediator in talks that came close to an agreement in August, the Financial Times reported, before they were derailed by Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.
“There’s very early talks about potentially restarting something. There are now talks on the energy facilities,” a diplomat told the newspaper.
A senior Ukrainian official also told the publication that Russia and Ukraine had already reduced attacks on energy infrastructure in recent weeks under a deal arranged by Kyiv’s intelligence services.
But a former Kremlin official briefed on the negotiations said that it was unlikely that Vladimir Putin would agree to a complete halt on attacks on energy infrastructure while Ukrainian forces remain in Kursk.
“As long as the [Ukrainians] are trampling the land in Kursk, Putin will hit Zelensky’s energy infrastructure,” the official said.
Half of Ukraine’s power destroyed or seized
In August, shortly after Ukraine invaded Kursk, Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack against energy targets across Ukraine.
Four Ukrainian officials also cautioned that a “tacit agreement” reached last year to stop attacks on energy infrastructure collapsed when Ukraine restarted its drone strikes against Russian oil refineries in February.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said the reports had “nothing to do with reality”, while Kyiv has not officially commented on the reports.
Around half of Ukraine’s power capacity has been destroyed or seized due to repeated Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
Reports of negotiations came as some of Ukraine’s Western allies talked up the possibility of Kyiv entering into peace talks with the Kremlin.
Russian forces are moving forward along the frontline in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and Western intelligence analysts have said that North Korean soldiers are likely to enter the war soon.
Turkey hosted peace talks between Ukraine and Russia shortly after the start of the war in February 2022 but these collapsed without an agreement.
Credit’ Yahoo News