Russia and US agree list of energy facilities for truce with Ukraine – Kremlin
The Kremlin has released a comprehensive list of energy facilities subject to a temporary US-brokered truce between Russia and Ukraine. The pause in long-range strikes against such targets took effect on March 18 and will last for 30 days, according to Moscow.
The types of facilities covered under the truce include oil and gas processing and storage facilities, including pumping stations and pipelines, electricity producing and distribution sites, nuclear power plants, and the dams of hydroelectric plants.
The truce may be prolonged beyond the 30-day period should both sides agree, Moscow noted. If either party violates the deal, the other can consider itself free from its obligations, it added.
The suspension of strikes was originally proposed by Trump to Russian President Vladimir Putin during a phone call last week. The Russian leader agreed to it and immediately ordering the country’s military to halt attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. The Russian military later said it had to shoot down seven kamikaze drones that were already en route to targets in Ukraine in order to implement the order.
Zelensky publicly backed the idea of the truce shortly after it was first announced. However, Moscow accused Kiev of violating the ceasefire almost immediately, claiming that multiple energy facilities in Russia had been targeted by Ukrainian drones over the past week.
On Monday, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) condemned a Ukrainian attack on the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station, a vital energy site in Russia’s Krasnodar Region. CPC operates a major pipeline system carrying crude oil from the oil fields in Kazakhstan and Russia’s Caspian region to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and on global markets. The project is jointly owned by several stakeholders from Russia, as well as such US oil giants as Chevron and ExxonMobil.
“The actions of the Ukrainian authorities have a destructive impact on CPC’s financial results and, as a consequence, on all of its shareholders, including the Republic of Kazakhstan and companies from the United States,” the consortium said in a statement.
