Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday that he stood by a proposal made to Russia for a ceasefire contingent on Moscow halting all attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the proposal had been conveyed to Moscow through the U.S. He also said work was continuing with U.S. negotiators on security guarantees, which he called the important thing to lasting peace.
“If Russia is able to stop strikes on our energy infrastructure, we shall be able to respond in kind,” he said. “This proposal has been conveyed to the Russian side through the Americans.”
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Zelenskyy offered last week to look at a ceasefire under similar conditions for Easter – within the Orthodox faith dominant in each Russia and Ukraine Easter falls on this coming Sunday.
But following latest Russian attacks, he then said Russia had responded to the proposal by deploying Iranian-designed Shahed drones.
Moscow reacted coolly to Zelenskyy’s proposal last week, saying it favored an overall peace deal as an alternative.
In his remarks on Monday, after an overnight attack on the Black Sea port of Odesa killed three people, Zelenskyy said Russia appeared unwilling to conform to an Easter ceasefire.
“We’ve repeatedly proposed to Russia a ceasefire at the very least for Easter, a special time of the 12 months,” he said. “But for them, all times are the identical. Nothing is sacred.”