Ukraine is ready to halt strikes on Russian energy sites if Moscow agrees to do likewise, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, adding that both Ukraine and the US want the war to end before winter.
"We are ready for any kind of format of energy ceasefire" if Russia agrees to "not attack our energy system," Zelenskyy told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
However, the Ukrainian leader said he did not know Moscow's position, expressing hope that the "American side will find a way ... to bring them to any kind of negotiations."
Efforts led by the US to broker a deal to end the hostilities — which have raged since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — have stalled in recent months as the United States has shifted focus to its war against Iran.
Russia and Ukraine have for months been engaged in intensifying long-range strikes targeting a growing number of civilian sites, including factories, warehouses and energy and port infrastructure, as well as ships in the Black Sea.
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US President Donald Trump, who met with Zelenskyy in New York on Wednesday, said last week that Ukraine and Russia had agreed not to target each other's energy facilities, a day after he chastised Ukraine for hitting Russian oil refineries.
Zelenskyy described the Tuesday meeting with Trump as "positive and productive," saying in a post on X that "both the US and Ukraine want to see this senseless Russian war ended before winter."
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