Zelenskyy: Russia swaps energy targets for civilian ones

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Russia has reduced strikes on energy facilities but redirected attacks toward civilian infrastructure, undermining a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv, Zelenskyy acknowledged that Moscow had lowered its targeting of Ukraine’s energy grid. But he warned the overall volume of Russian missile and drone attacks had not fallen.

“They reduced their strikes on energy. That's a fact,” Zelenskyy said. “But… Russia did not reduce the number of strikes. That was the strategy. By reducing strikes on energy, they are hitting other civilian infrastructure.”

The 30-day moratorium on attacks against energy sites, brokered by the United States last month, aimed to ease the humanitarian burden ahead of winter. Yet both Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of repeated violations.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Ukrainian forces launched around 120 attacks on Russian fuel and energy sites since the ceasefire began. “Ukrainian forces have largely disregarded it,” he told reporters after a closed-door Security Council meeting.

Ukraine denies the accusation and says it is Russia that continues to escalate. At the same U.N. meeting, several Western and European nations reiterated calls for a broader ceasefire.

“Ukraine wants peace, and has demonstrated this by agreeing to a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire five weeks ago,” Slovenia’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Zbogar said in a joint statement on behalf of Slovenia, Denmark, France, Greece and Britain. “At the consultations today, Russia again rejected the comprehensive ceasefire and refused to make its first step towards peace.”

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and currently occupies nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Copied