MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia had suspended its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure after a phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and had shot down its own Ukraine-bound drones while they were in the air.
Putin agreed in a call with Trump on Tuesday to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities, but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire sought by the U.S. president.
Ukraine has accused Russia of striking its energy infrastructure overnight anyway.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had called off a drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure targets and had shot down seven of its own drones.
“They were just lining up in combat order, six of them were shot down by ‘Pantsirs’ (a surface-to-air missile system) and another one was destroyed by a (Russian) military aircraft,” Peskov said.
Peskov in turn accused Ukraine of not respecting the 30-day moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure and said it had tried to attack Russian energy infrastructure overnight.
“Unfortunately, we see that so far there has been no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv side. There have been attempts to strike at our energy infrastructure facilities,” Peskov said.
“We are watching closely to see whether Kyiv heeds the firm commitment of the Russian and U.S. presidents to do everything possible to move towards a peaceful settlement.”
The Russian military earlier on Wednesday accused Ukraine of trying to sabotage the temporary moratorium on striking each other’s energy infrastructure with a deliberate drone attack on an oil depot in southern Russia.
Asked if Russia would abide by its promise to suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Peskov suggested it would.
“The president has not given any other orders (to the contrary),” said Peskov.
(Reporting by Reuters Moscow bureau; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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