Trump announces ‘energy ceasefire’ between Russia, Ukraine
Por David Cohen — POLITICO – TOP Stories
President Donald Trump on Sunday announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, “effective immediately,” saying both parties had assented to the arrangement.
About an hour earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had urged President Donald Trump to push for an “energy ceasefire” in the Russia-Ukraine war, speaking to ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.”
It was not immediately clear whether both sides had, in fact, agreed to a ceasefire. The Russian state news agency TASS published a Russian-language story about Trump’s social media post, but did not include any statements on the subject from the Russian side.
Zelenskyy told Karl earlier Sunday that Ukraine is “ready for energy ceasefire not to attack energy both sides.”
“If the Russians want us not attack their diesel, their refineries and etc.,” he added, “we are asking President Trump, give them signal, not attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine.”
Attacks on energy infrastructure have been a notable part of the 4-year-old war.
“They attacked 196 times our energy sector,” Zelenskyy said of Russia. He claimed those attacks had killed 153 civilians.
On Saturday, Trump escalated his criticism of Ukraine’s leader. “Zelenskyy could have settled this war many times. Many, many times. And he chooses not to,” Trump said.
He also said Ukraine was wrong to attack Russia’s energy facilities. “Don’t hit the refineries because that’s a world problem,” Trump said. Those remarks came days after Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel fuel.
On Friday, Zelenskyy said Trump’s move to lift sanctions was a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “You know, it looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks absolutely terrible,” he told Axios.
Zelenskyy expanded on those remarks Sunday: “It gives Putin money and he spends money only on this war. Kill us. Kill our children.”
Speaking to Karl, Zelenskyy also responded to Trump’s statement that Ukraine needs a “new leader who can make a deal” by saying it was up to the people of Ukraine to decide when to vote.
Still, he suggested that if everyone really wanted Ukraine to hold elections, Russia would need to stop its attacks to make it possible to organize elections.
“Tell Putin give us two months, 60 days,” Zelenskyy said.
Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories