Russia in Riyadh refuses to discuss cessation of strikes on civilian targets - Presidential Office
The Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Ihor Zhovkva (president.gov.ua)
The Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Ihor Zhovkva, in an interview with Ukrinform, stated that at the talks with the United States in Riyadh, the Russians did not want to discuss ending strikes on civilian infrastructure. Moscow came up with an excuse about the mandate.
He emphasized that Ukraine insisted on a ban on the shelling of civilian targets. However, the Russian delegation in Riyadh said that it allegedly could not discuss the cessation of attacks on civilian infrastructure because it did not have the appropriate mandate.
"Indeed, we talked separately about civilian infrastructure - residential buildings, schools, kindergartens, etc. What did Russia do? During the negotiations, as far as we understand from the information of the American side, they refused to talk about civilian infrastructure at all, telling the American delegation that they did not have a mandate to discuss this issue," he said.
According to Zhovkva, the Russians interpret the energy truce in their way. The Russian Federation showed its uncoordinated list of energy infrastructure facilities that are allegedly not subject to strikes.
"Regarding energy infrastructure, the Russians posted their list yesterday (March 25 - ed.), their understanding of the objects, which is much smaller and narrower than ours. The American side did not coordinate this list because, like the statement about the alleged terms of the truce on the Black Sea, it was released only in Russian. It is not available on the White House website or the US State Department's website. This is a list compiled by the Russians following their wishes," said the deputy head of the Presidential Office.
Truce between Ukraine and Russia
The other day in Saudi Arabia, negotiations between Ukraine and the United States took place, as well as a separate meeting between representatives of the United States and Russia. Washington announced that it had reached agreements with both sides to ensure the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, to exclude the use of force, and to prevent the use of commercial vessels for military purposes.
Ukraine confirmed that the meetings in Saudi Arabia raised the issues of navigation safety and protection of port infrastructure. One of the points of the talks was a ban on strikes on energy infrastructure.
At the same time, Moscow issued its own statement after the talks, in which it emphasized that the provisions on security in the Black Sea and the resumption of Russian agricultural exports would come into force only after the lifting of sanctions against Russian food producers and exporters.
Read more about the results of the talks in Riyadh in RBC-Ukraine's article.
