FT: Ukraine and Russia hold preliminary talks on halting attacks on energy facilities

Ukraine and Russia are holding preliminary talks on halting mutual strikes on energy infrastructure, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources. According to the newspaper, a potential deal would mark the most significant de-escalation of the war since early 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of the neighboring country. The Kremlin denied the FT report today.

Kyiv is seeking to revive negotiations mediated by Qatar, which came close to a deal in August before they were derailed by Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, the newspaper reported, citing sources it said included senior Ukrainian officials.

One of them said that in recent weeks the two countries had reduced the frequency of their mutual attacks on energy infrastructure under an informal agreement reached by their intelligence services.

However, a former senior Kremlin official who is familiar with the talks said Russian President Putin was unlikely to agree to a deal until the Russian army drove Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region, where Ukrainians still control about 600 square kilometers of Russian territory, the newspaper reported.

Kyiv also intends to continue attacking Russian oil refineries and similar facilities to put pressure on Moscow and try to bring it to the negotiating table, a Ukrainian official said. Ukraine, the official said, has few other “levers” to get the Russians to negotiate.

Other attempts to broker a deal have failed in the past, the newspaper reported, adding that according to four Ukrainian officials, Kyiv and Moscow reached a “quiet agreement” last autumn not to attack each other’s energy facilities. Russia refrained that winter from the large-scale attacks it had carried out against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the winter of 2022-2023, two Ukrainian officials and a source in Washington said.

According to the sources, this was meant to pave the way for a formal deal. Ukraine nevertheless resumed drone attacks on Russian oil facilities in February and March this year in an effort to increase pressure on Moscow after its failed counteroffensive in 2023, the Financial Times reported. Russia then escalated the situation, according to the newspaper, and began launching large-scale attacks on Ukrainian power plants again.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the Financial Times report today. He said there were many reports that, in his words, “have nothing to do with reality.” Kyiv has not officially commented on the article.