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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine was ready to de-escalate the war with Russia if its rival did the same, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the foes had agreed to end strikes on energy targets.
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With international oil prices climbing again, Trump had at the weekend berated Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries, blaming them for causing a shortage in diesel fuel.
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In one of his surprise social media posts, the U.S. leader announced on Monday that “Ukraine has agreed not to hit Russian Energy targets. Russia has agreed to do, likewise!”
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Russia made no immediate comment. But in his daily address, Zelenskyy highlighted “a strong proposal from the United States regarding a mutual halt to strikes on critical infrastructure.”
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He added: “If this can become the first de-escalatory step — stopping Russian strikes on our critical infrastructure, and ours in response — then Ukraine is ready to support de-escalation.”
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Zelenskyy said “we see that the Russians are feeling pressure because of our precise responses against Russia’s war economy.”
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He noted that “so far no one has seen any genuine desire from Russia to move toward ending the war.”
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“But if our American partners succeed in securing a real readiness from Russia to stop this war of destroying lives, and to do so sincerely and for the long term, Ukraine will make its own de-escalatory steps.”
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Trump has insisted that the Russia-Ukraine war and not the conflict with Iran, was driving up fuel costs for Americans who vote in crucial midterm elections in November.
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A previous push by Trump for a ceasefire has been sidelined by the U.S.-Israeli conflict against Iran, now in its seventh month. U.S. envoys went to Moscow and Kyiv earlier this month without announcing a breakthrough.
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While Ukraine has hit refineries deep inside Russia, Zelenskyy has stepped up calls for allies to provide more anti-missile defences as Russia intensifies its attacks.
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Russian strikes on Ukraine’s rail network are worsening each week, the CEO of the state Ukrainian Railways operator told AFP on Monday, after a strike hit a train frequently used by diplomats near the Polish border at the weekend.
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“It’s growing exponentially. Each month, each week is generally worse than the previous one,” said Oleksandr Pertsovsky.
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NATO-member Poland said on Sunday that Russia hit a train about two kilometres (one mile) from the Polish-Ukraine border, just days after Kyiv officials said road crossing checkpoints on the border with Moldova had been targeted.
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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Sunday that Warsaw had obtained information that Moscow might be planning attacks on border crossings.