Kremlin denies Russia-Ukraine talks on halting energy strikes

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied alleged talks with Ukraine about mutually halting strikes on energy infrastructure, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Oct. 30.
The denial comes after the Financial Times reported that Ukraine and Russia are planning to resume discussions about halting the strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure after the talks abruptly ended in August following Ukraine’s Kursk incursion.
“There is a lot of fake news now that has no connection to reality,” Peskov told the media, referring to the Financial Times story.
According to a senior Ukrainian official, Moscow and Kyiv have already reduced the frequency of attacks on energy infrastructure in recent weeks as part of an agreement reached by their intelligence services, Ukrainian news outlet New Voice reported on Oct. 30.
An agreement would mark the most significant de-escalation of the war since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Oct. 21 that a willingness on Russia’s part to halt the strikes might signal a willingness to start broader peace talks.
Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter yet, with half of its energy infrastructure in ruins after Russia launched massive campaigns against the country’s energy grid in the autumn-winter period of 2023-2023 and again in the spring of 2024.
Between March and August of this year, Russia destroyed all thermal power plants and almost all hydroelectric capacity in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sept. 25 during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.