Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of breaking ceasefire around energy sites

Repair works to a substation destroyed by a Russian drone strike in Ukraine (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of breaking the terms of a tentative US brokered deal to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, underscoring the challenges on negotiating a broader peace.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Ukrainian drone attacks hit an electric facility in the Bryansk region early on Wednesday and a power grid facility in the Kursk region on Tuesday, leading to a power cut affecting thousands of people.

“The Kyiv regime is doing everything to derail the Russian-US agreements on the gradual settlement of the Ukrainian conflict,” the ministry said on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s General Staff denied the allegations, saying Moscow’s claims were part of a broader disinformation campaign aimed at justifying continued hostilities.

We’re not going into all the details, but there have already been eight confirmed hits on energy facilities

The accusations came hours after Washington announced it had reached a tentative agreement with Ukraine and Russia to pause attacks on energy sites as well as taking steps to ensure safe navigation for ships in the Black Sea.

The deal followed three days of separate US-Ukrainian and US-Russian talks in the Saudi capital.

The talks were part of efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump to implement a limited, 30-day ceasefire that Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week. That has so far failed to materialise as both sides continue to launch drone and rocket attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that Kyiv had agreed with US negotiators in Riyadh “that a ceasefire for energy infrastructure can start today”, and expressed his country’s willingness to comply with the agreement while warning Russia would face “strong retaliation” if it attacked Ukrainian energy facilities.

Ukrainian officials have contested claims by the Kremlin that Russian forces have not attacked energy sites in Ukraine since March 18. Mr Zelensky’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said Moscow was “lying” about observing a ceasefire on energy infrastructure.

“They’ve been hitting our energy sites with bombs, attack drones and FPV drones. We’re not going into all the details, but there have already been eight confirmed hits on energy facilities,” he wrote.

“Every night our air defence forces shoot down nearly a hundred attack drones – and many of those drones were likely targeting other energy facilities.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

On Tuesday, the White House said in separate statements that the sides had “agreed to ensure safe navigation, eliminate the use of force, and prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes in the Black Sea”.

Details of the prospective deal were not released, but it appeared to mark another attempt to ensure safe Black Sea shipping after a 2022 agreement that was brokered by the UN and Turkey but was halted by Russia the next year.

After the White House issued its statement, the Kremlin warned that a potential Black Sea deal could only be implemented after sanctions against the Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial organisations involved in food and fertiliser trade are lifted and their access to the Swift system of international payments is ensured.

Speaking during a visit to Paris on Wednesday, Mr Zelensky accused Moscow of attempting to add extra conditions to what should be an “unconditional agreement”.

“We expect the American side to ensure an unconditional ceasefire at sea,” he said. “Russia wants this war to continue. Russia is prolonging it. Pressure on Russia is needed for the war to genuinely end.”

He also said it is too early for the US to ease sanctions against Russia, adding that Ukraine continues discussions with international partners, including the United States, Asian countries and the European Union, to prepare new sanctions packages.

The White House said in Tuesday’s statement that the US “will help restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertiliser exports, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhance access to ports and payment systems for such transactions.”

US secretary of state Marco Rubio said “we’re going to evaluate” the Russian conditions, noting that some of them “include sanctions that are not ours, they belong to the European Union”.

Marco Rubio (Nathan Howard/AP)

He said that after analysing Moscow’s demands, “we’ll present that to the president, who will make a decision” about the next step.

“I think everyone should be happy that the United States is engaged in a process of ending a war and bringing about peace,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy. It won’t be simple. It’ll take some time. But at least we’re on that road and we’re talking about these things, and we’re going to test it and see what’s possible.”

Asked about when Washington might help Moscow achieve those ambitions, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Wednesday that contacts between Russia and the US “continue quite intensively” and that authorities are “satisfied with how pragmatic, constructive and productive our dialogue is”.

Meanwhile, Kryvyi Rih, Mr Zelensky’s home town, came under the “most massive kamikaze drone attack since the beginning of the war” on Tuesday night, said the city administration head, Oleksandr Vilkul.

Although no one was killed or injured, civilian infrastructure including warehouses, an administration building and a fire station were widely targeted, he added. Multiple fires were sparked across the city, he said.

“Everyone is alive, thank God. It’s truly a miracle. The destruction is significant,” Mr Vilkul said.

Civilian infrastructure also came under strike in the Sumy, Cherkasy and Kirovohrad regions, local authorities said.