US warned Ukraine not to hit US interests in strikes on Russia energy infrastructure, envoy says

By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The Ukrainian government received a formal, official message from the U.S. State Department recently after attacks by Ukraine on the Russian port of Novorossiysk affected U.S. interests in Kazakhstan, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., Olha Stefanishyna, said on Tuesday.

Most of Kazakhstan's oil is sent to Novorossiysk for export.

Stefanishyna, speaking on the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, declined to provide details about the State Department's formal diplomatic communication, also called a demarche, but said it focused on strikes affecting U.S. interests, not halting attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

"We have heard from the Department of State that we should refrain from ... attacking American interests," she told reporters.

"This reach-out was not related to encouraging Ukraine from refraining to attack Russian military and energy infrastructure. It was related to the very fact that American economic interest was affected there."

She said the incident made clear that Ukraine had failed to establish similarly close economic ties with the U.S. in the decades since its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and she was determined to change that.

Her job as ambassador was focused on working with the U.S. to achieve a peace deal, but also ensuring that Ukraine built sustainable and long-lasting American economic interests in Ukraine, she said, adding that this would provide her country with one of the most powerful security guarantees.

Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia last week failed to produce a breakthrough, as Russia's all-out war on Ukraine neared its four-year anniversary.

NOT FEELING ABANDONED

Stefanishyna, who said she was invited to attend President Donald Trump's State of the Union address in Congress later on Tuesday, said her country was grateful for Trump's personal engagement on ending the war and does not feel abandoned by the U.S. government, despite the failure to reach a ceasefire and his decision to scale back U.S. military support.

The ambassador, who served as Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration before going to Washington, urged Congress to pass a comprehensive sanctions bill that would lay the groundwork for further sanctions against Russia, after last year's moves to designate Russia's two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft.

She said Ukraine was working closely with U.S. lawmakers on the legislation, predicting that it would have overwhelming bipartisan support once introduced, and she expected Trump to sign it once it passed.

"So it should be either passed now, or we will just have to recognize that there's no bill to do it," she said.

Ukraine was also working with the U.S. government on new ways to deprive Russia of revenue to fund the war, but declined to give details.

"There's a number of engagements which are ongoing," she said. "What I can say is that we have not been abandoned by the U.S. government."

Stefanishyna said she expected Trump's address to Congress to touch on foreign affairs and ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Caitlin Webber, Susan Heavey, Rod Nickel)