Zelenskiy States Ukraine Will Respond if Russia Halts Energy Attacks

Ukraine's Response to Energy Attacks

By Olena Harmash

KYIV, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Ukraine is ready to reciprocate if Russia halts its attacks on the country's energy infrastructure that has plunged the capital Kyiv into cold, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday, adding there was no formal truce between the two countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed not to fire on Kyiv for a week due to cold weather. Temperatures in the Ukrainian capital are forecast to plunge as low as minus 26 degrees Celsius on Sunday.

U.S. Involvement in Peace Talks

Zelenskiy said the opportunity to de-escalate the conflict was proposed by the United States during trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi last weekend. He added that the date or location for a follow-up round of talks, currently scheduled for this Sunday in the United Arab Emirates, could change.

"The Americans said they want to raise the issue of de-escalation, with both sides demonstrating certain steps toward refraining from the use of long-range capabilities in order to create more space for diplomacy," Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv, in remarks released by his office on Friday.

"At this stage, this is an initiative of the American side and personally of the President of the United States. We regard it as an opportunity rather than an agreement."

There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin on the proposal for an energy ceasefire.

The Ukrainian Air Force said on Friday that Russia had launched a ballistic missile and 111 drones in overnight attacks targeting Ukraine.

Regional officials reported airstrikes in frontline regions, but there were no reports about attacks on energy targets.

Current Situation in Donetsk

   If implemented, a ceasefire for the energy sector would come at a critical moment in the war, which will mark its fourth anniversary next month.

Russian troops are continuing their grinding advance in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, and Moscow sends hundreds of drones in nearly daily attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities far from the frontlines. 

Since autumn last year, Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine's power sector, plunging Kyiv into darkness and cold amid one of the harshest winters of the past decade. 

Challenges to Ceasefire Agreement

Diplomatic efforts to end the war have so far produced no tangible results. Zelenskiy said that the sensitive territorial issue of Donetsk and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, remained unresolved. 

  Putin's demand that Ukraine surrender the 20% it still holds of Donetsk - about 5,000 sq km (1,900 sq miles) - has proven a major stumbling block to any deal. Zelenskiy has ruled out giving up territory that Ukraine has shed blood to defend during years of attritional fighting.

Zelenskiy said he did not know when the next meeting of Russia, Ukrainian and U.S. negotiators would take place.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who attended the previous round of talks, would not participate in the weekend meeting in Abu Dhabi. Zelenskiy said it was important that all the same personnel be present at the next round of talks, to monitor the progress of what was previously discussed. 

"But the date or the location may change – because, in our view, something is happening in the situation between the United States and Iran. And those developments could likely affect the timing," Zelenskiy said.

(Additional reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Editing by Daniel Flynn)