Shot our own drones; suspended attack on Ukraine energy infra, says Kremlin

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia had called off a drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure targets and had shot down seven of its own drones

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia had suspended its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure after a phone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump and had shot down its own Ukraine-bound drones while they were in the air. 

Putin agreed in a call with Trump on Tuesday to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities, but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire sought by the US president.   

Ukraine has accused Russia of striking its energy infrastructure overnight anyway. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia had called off a drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure targets and had shot down seven of its own drones. 

"They were just lining up in combat order, six of them were shot down by 'Pantsirs' (a surface-to-air missile system) and another one was destroyed by a (Russian) military aircraft," Peskov said. 

Peskov in turn accused Ukraine of not respecting the 30-day moratorium on striking each other's energy infrastructure and said it had tried to attack Russian energy infrastructure overnight. 

"Unfortunately, we see that so far there has been no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv side. There have been attempts to strike at our energy infrastructure facilities," Peskov said. 

"We are watching closely to see whether Kyiv heeds the firm commitment of the Russian and US presidents to do everything possible to move towards a peaceful settlement." The Russian military earlier on Wednesday accused Ukraine of trying to sabotage the temporary moratorium on striking each other's energy infrastructure with a deliberate drone attack on an oil depot in southern Russia. 

Asked if Russia would abide by its promise to suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Peskov suggested it would.

"The president has not given any other orders (to the contrary)," said Peskov.  'Putin and Trump understand and trust each other' 

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump have a good rapport and are determined to restore badly damaged US-Russia ties step-by-step. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was speaking after Putin and Trump spoke by phone on Tuesday and the Russian leader agreed to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump had hoped would be the first step towards a permanent peace deal. 

"I can say with a high degree of confidence that presidents Putin and Trump understand each other well, trust each other and intend to work towards the normalisation of Russian-American relations step-by-step", Peskov said. 

He said there had long been a direct phone line between the presidents of the two countries and a video-link when necessary, but that it had hardly been used during Joe Biden's administration. He said Putin hoped it could now be used more often. 

"Of course, Russia and the United States are very large countries and too much has been spoiled during the previous US

administrations," said Peskov. 

"So, of course, it will take time and effort, supported by the will of the two presidents, to restore these relations. 

But for now this strong will of the two presidents is probably the best guarantee that everyone will follow this path." Peskov said that the exact dates and format for the next round of US-Russia contacts would be agreed today and tomorrow.

       

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)