Ukraine is not holding direct talks with Russia on an energy ceasefire but is open to a third country mediating the implementation of the peace formula talks, said Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, in a televised interview on Nov. 4.
The official said this in response to multiple media publications that claimed Kyiv and Moscow are holding preliminary discussions on mutually stopping strikes on energy facilities.
After the Qatar-mediated talks allegedly first fell through in August in the wake of the Kursk incursion, the Financial Times reported on Oct. 29 that the parties are considering resuming the discussions. The Kremlin denied the resumption of talks in a statement on Oct. 30.
Speaking in Montreal, Canada, Yermak refuted any direct negotiations with Moscow. He added that a thematic international conference, co-organized by Qatar, on implementing the security aspect of Ukraine's peace formula took place online in August without Russian participation.
The official said that Kyiv would not rule out the possibility of reaching an agreement based on the thematic conference through intermediaries, naming Qatar or "any other country" that would help the parties implement the conclusions.
"After that, we said that if today, Qatar or any other country is ready to implement these agreements separately with Ukraine and separately with Russia, please do," Yermak said.
The third point of Ukraine's peace formula denounces Russian strikes against the Ukrainian energy grid and urges tougher sanctions to undermine Moscow's capability to sustain these attacks.
According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the idea of a mutual cessation of energy strikes to implement this goal was proposed during the first global peace summit in Switzerland in June. He said that a willingness on Russia’s part to halt the strikes might signal a willingness to start broader peace talks.
An agreement would mark the most significant de-escalation of the war since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Yermak stressed that no such agreement is currently being discussed with Russia.
Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter yet, with half of its energy infrastructure in ruins after Russia launched massive campaigns against the country's energy grid in the autumn-winter period of 2023-2023 and again in the spring of 2024.
Dominic Culverwell
