KYIV: The Kremlin accused Kyiv on Wednesday of countering US-Russia efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, saying it had tried to strike Russian energy infrastructure despite Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreeing a halt on such attacks. Putin announced a 30-day pause on striking Ukrainian energy facilities following a call with Trump on Tuesday, after turning down the US president's previous demand to pause all hostilities.
"Unfortunately, so far see there has been no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv regime. There were attempts to strike our energy infrastructure," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"These attacks are countering our common (Russian-American) efforts." Peskov said Putin had "immediately" given the command to stop energy attacks on Ukraine, claiming that seven Russian drones were "in the air" to be used on Ukrainian energy infrastructure but were instead shot down by air defences.
Both countries attacked each other with drones after the Putin-Trump call. The Kremlin said Putin had only committed to a ceasefire in strikes on energy infrastructure, clarifying a discrepancy between Russian and US reports after US envoy Steve Witkoff said Moscow had agreed to halt strikes on all infrastructure. Kyiv had last week committed to an unconditional ceasefire with Russia.
The Kremlin said that Putin and Trump "trust each other and are intent to gradually move towards the normalisation of ties" more than three years into Moscow's offensive. Peskov said the phone call between Trump and Putin lasted around two hours and that the pair had also discussed military aid to Ukraine, without giving details as "it is quite a sensitive topic and probably should not be discussed in public".
President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Wednesday against heeding a Kremlin call to halt military aid for his country and announced he would speak with US President Donald Trump later within hours. "I do not believe that we should make any concessions in terms of assistance for Ukraine but rather there should be an increase in assistance for Ukraine."
The call between Trump and Putin failed to secure the breakthrough ceasefire that Ukraine has been pushing for, after Kyiv endorsed the US-led proposal last week. "Today I will have contacts with President Trump and we will discuss the next steps," Zelensky said.
Zelensky said Washington should take a lead role in overseeing any agreement leading to a halt in Russian and Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure. "The United States should be the main controlling entity," Zelensky said. "If the Russians don't hit our targets, we will definitely not hit their targets." And the Ukrainian leader said he hoped that the United States would continue to exert pressure on Russia to agree to a complete ceasefire.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that she had scaled back a push to supply Ukraine up to 40 billion euros in arms, to focus on supplying two million artillery shells. Europe has faced to calls to step up its military support to Ukraine as US President Donald Trump has plunged Washington's backing into doubt. Kallas floated a plan this month to get EU countries to commit to giving Kyiv from 20 to 40 billion euros in key weaponry in 2025. But the initiative was opposed by countries including Italy, Spain and France. "This is a long term thing that countries are not at this moment ready to agree," Kallas said on Wednesday.
She said that instead Brussels was now working getting member states to agree on meeting a Ukrainian request to rush two million shells to Kyiv worth five billon euros. "I think we can do it," she said.
"That is a very, very short term. Either you chip in with cash, or you come in with the ammunition." Kallas was speaking ahead of the EU unveiling proposals on Wednesday on how to bolster its defences in the face of the menace from Moscow and doubts over US protections. — AFP
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