Putin order military to pause strikes against Ukraine’s power grid for 30 days
Putin agreed to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire sought by US President Donald Trump in a telephone call between the two leaders on Tuesday.
Gavriil Grigorov, Drew Angerer/POOL/AFP
KYIV (AFP) — A barrage of strikes hit civilian infrastructure in Ukraine while a fire broke out at an oil depot in southwest Russia due to debris from a neutralized Ukrainian drone attack, on Wednesday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to stop targeting energy facilities of Kyiv during a lengthy call with United States (US) President Donald Trump.
The attack prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to say, “Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire.”
“A fire broke out at an oil depot located near the village due to falling debris,” emergency services in the Krasnodar Krai administrative area said in a statement, adding that Kyiv’s drone attack “has been repelled.”
According to the Kremlin, Putin has already ordered his military to pause strikes against Ukraine’s power grid for 30 days.
Russia and Ukraine will also exchange 175 prisoners each on Wednesday “as a goodwill gesture,” with further talks to take place immediately in the Middle East on Sunday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US delegation in Saudi Arabia would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, but did not indicate who they would be holding talks with.
Washington has been pushing for a full, 30-day ceasefire as a first step towards a wider settlement of the grinding three-year-old war.
In a 90-minute call with Trump on Tuesday, Putin refused, insisting that any such deal would be contingent on Ukraine’s allies halting all military aid.
The US president hailed his latest call with Putin as “good and productive.”
“We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump posted afterwards on his Truth Social platform.
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