US plans talks on Ukraine-Russia energy ceasefire, media reports
Photo: Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (Getty Images)
The US is not abandoning the idea of a trilateral meeting with representatives of Ukraine and Russia to reach an energy ceasefire agreement. The meeting could take place in Abu Dhabi, The Atlantic reports.
Meeting on an energy ceasefire
The outlet reports that a member of Ukraine’s negotiating team said a new trilateral meeting between the US, Ukraine and Russia could take place.
According to the source, US President Donald Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner plan to organize a meeting between representatives of the three countries in October. Negotiations to discuss a limited ceasefire are most likely to take place in Abu Dhabi.
The Atlantic notes that this could require each side to refrain from strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure, including power plants, oil refineries, and similar targets.
A separate agreement brokered with the help of the Egyptian government provides that Russia and Ukraine will not strike each other’s cargo ships in the Black Sea, the outlet reports.
The negotiators said this would apply particularly to ships carrying grain to markets in the Middle East and Africa.
Russian terror intensifies
According to the outlet, Russia has stepped up its regular drone and missile strikes on Kyiv. None of the Ukrainian officials who spoke to reporters for the article expected Putin to engage in serious peace talks at least until spring.
"He has been stockpiling missiles for a reason, and he intends to use them this winter," one of them said.
As a result, the "flurry" of peace talks initiated by Trump’s envoys in recent weeks seemed like a waste of time to some Ukrainian negotiators, the outlet writes.
"It almost feels like we’re all just dancing around Putin, offering him this and that, whatever we can think of, but he’s not moving," the negotiator told the outlet.
Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that Trump’s envoy John Coale was working on a deal to exchange Russian political prisoners for US sanctions relief.
In addition, US and Russian representatives held talks in Washington on ending the war in Ukraine and possible energy cooperation in the postwar period.
