Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of attacks on the energy system hours after Putin's promise to Trump
Zelensky says he will speak with Trump by phone today.
Moscow / WashingtonRussia and Ukraine accuse each other of bombing civilian targets and energy infrastructure, although Vladimir Putin had promised Donald Trump hours earlier not to do so.. On the one hand, Kiev denounces that airstrikes on Tuesday night left the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in Donetsk province without power, also affected the power supply to the southern railways, and drones also hit two hospitals in the Sumi region in the northeast. On the other hand, Moscow regrets that Ukrainian drones damaged an oil depot in Kavkazskaia, in Krasnodar, in the south of the country, and caused a fire.
Amid the exchange of reproaches, the White House has announced that Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky will call this Wednesday. This is the first conversation the two leaders will have since the US president booed the Ukrainian in the Oval Office at the end of February. In the morning, Zelensky had already announced that he would call the US president today to discuss the hour-and-a-half conversation Trump had with Putin. The Ukrainian, as he did during his visit to the capital, insists that the Russian's words cannot be trusted and that the concession of Ukrainian territories to Russia remains a red line for Kiev.
Last week, Trump assured NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that he had already spoken with Ukraine about which territories it would lose by achieving a ceasefire. The American media outlet Traffic light He also reported that Trump is considering handing over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula occupied by Russia since 2014, to Moscow.
Cross-References
Zelensky blamed the Russian president for not acting on his words and reaffirmed his willingness to respect a ceasefire on energy infrastructure. "If the Russians don't attack our facilities, we will definitely not attack theirs," the Ukrainian president said from Helsinki. He also asserted that the United States should be "the main controlling agent" of a comprehensive ceasefire like the one proposed by Kiev and Washington, which Moscow again rejected.
Despite Ukraine's accusations, the Kremlin is proud of having immediately ordered an end to attacks on energy facilities. "Russia, by shooting down its drones targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure, has demonstrated that it abides by agreements," explained spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who, however, wanted to make it clear that Putin keeps his word to the US president. The Russian government criticizes Ukrainian forces' attempt to "sabotage" the agreement with Trump with the attack on the oil depot and warns that it sees no "reciprocity" in their actions.
The Kremlin has also insisted on a nuance: "The ceasefire only affects energy facilities; not all infrastructure." And it has contradicted Trump, who hours earlier had assured Fox News that the end of Western military support for Ukraine was not discussed during the call. According to Peskov, both presidents discussed it and it will be an issue of further discussion.
Meanwhile, talks are underway between Russia and the United States to agree on a pause in attacks in the Black Sea. Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, stated that a "total" ceasefire in Ukraine could be reached "within a couple of weeks." The delegations of both countries will meet this Sunday, March 23, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Ukraine and Russia also completed the prisoner exchange announced after the call between Trump and Putin. 175 soldiers from each side, in addition to 22 seriously wounded Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In Russia, optimism reigns among those closest to the Kremlin. Analysts consider the outcome of the conversation between the Russian and US presidents to be positive because the goal was to make progress in restoring relations between Russia and the United States without having to accept the 30-day ceasefire proposal. For example, Fyodor Lukyanov of the magazine Russia in global affairsbelieves the conversation "did not bring any particularly good news for Kiev or Europe"; Ivan Timofeev, director of one of Russia's leading international relations think tanks, speaks of "the continuation of a moderately positive dynamic"; while Vadim Kozyulin, a global security expert, admits that "there were no surprises and no significant changes in sentiment," but adds that "under current conditions, this can be considered the most important outcome."
The rare earth agreement
Another pending issue between Trump and Zelensky is the signing of the agreement for the exploitation of Ukraine's rare earths. The Ukrainian president's visit to Washington at the end of February was intended primarily to close the deal, but the meeting ended with a rupture in relations between the United States and Ukraine that Zelensky has had to mend.
The initial agreed-upon text established that Ukraine's mineral resources, including oil and gas, would be jointly developed between the US and Ukraine, after Washington withdrew its demand for rights to $500 billion in potential revenue from their exploitation. It remains to be seen whether Trump will now try to further strengthen relations with Kiev following the rupture in relations and the weakened position to which the United States has condemned Ukraine.
