Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha has responded to a statement by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claiming that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supposedly “did not deserve a respite on the battlefield”.
Sybiha wrote about it on the social network X.
The Ukrainian minister called Lavrov a war criminal and said he had already “earned a front-row seat” at the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.
“The more such inappropriate and cynical comments there are, the more evidence there is for the tribunal,” Sybiha stressed.
- On Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that an energy ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine “takes effect immediately”.
- Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is ready not to strike Russia’s energy sector, and is counting on Russia’s similar readiness and on an agreement by the US president.
- Earlier, on 9 October, Trump said he had agreed with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on supplies of diesel fuel to the Russian Federation for the American and global markets. AXIOS reported that Trump decided to conclude this deal after Zelenskyy refused Washington’s demand to unilaterally stop strikes on Russian oil refineries.
- Trump criticised the Ukrainian president, saying he was “not ready to make deals”, and that Ukraine should choose a new leader who would be able to negotiate an end to the war. Zelenskyy replied that Ukraine is ready to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow stops strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector. He also said Ukraine would organise elections if the Russian Federation agrees to a 60-day full ceasefire.
- Russia has repeatedly agreed to various ceasefires, mostly local or thematic, but has consistently violated them. None of them has been fully implemented. For example, at the end of March last year, Ukraine and Russia committed to stop mutual strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days. The temporary moratorium was agreed with US mediation. However, Russia immediately violated that ceasefire. Read more in the LB.ua article “Did the energy ceasefire really fail? Key conclusions”.