According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a mutual agreement between Russia and Ukraine to stop attacks on energy infrastructure could be a step towards ending the war. This was stated by the Ukrainian president in an interview with journalists, quoted by the British newspaper Financial Times.
"We saw during the first summit that a decision could be made on energy security. In other words: we don't attack their energy infrastructure, they don't attack ours. Could this bring an end to the hot phase of the war? I think so", FT quoted Zelensky as saying.
Previously, Zelensky has repeatedly called negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin pointless, as he has not demonstrated readiness for peace and can use any pause in hostilities to his advantage.
Washington Post reported, citing its sources, that in August of this year Ukraine and Russia were to send delegations to Doha for indirect negotiations to conclude an agreement to stop attacks on energy infrastructure by both countries, which would be equivalent to of a partial ceasefire, as well as an opportunity for both sides to rest.
But according to the publication's interlocutors, indirect negotiations, in which Qatar acted as a mediator and met separately with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, were interrupted by Ukraine's unexpected invasion of the Kursk region.
Both Ukrainian and Russian officials later denied the information in this publication.
In September, in an interview with the state television channel "Russia-24", the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu, stated that before the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region, Kiev offered Moscow a mutual commitment that the two countries would not strikes on energy facilities and a number of other targets and claims that Vladimir Putin has accepted this proposal.