Who was undermining the energy ceasefire?

Who was trying to wreck the energy ceasefire before it had properly begun? On 19 March 2025, Kyiv and Moscow gave opposite answers, each saying the other was trying to discredit the peace effort led by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The agreement of 18 March

On 18 March 2025, Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call to an immediate ceasefire on energy infrastructure in Ukraine. They also agreed that further negotiations on a permanent settlement would begin immediately. Putin stated that ending all foreign military and intelligence support to Ukraine would be one condition of such a settlement.

Moscow's claims

The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Ukrainian forces had tried to launch an offensive on Belgorod Oblast with five assaults before Russian forces stopped them. It characterised the alleged attacks as an attempt to discredit Trump's peace negotiations.

On 19 March 2025, the ministry went further. It said Ukraine had violated the energy ceasefire by launching a drone attack on an oil depot in Krasnodar Krai.

Kyiv's response

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the opposite charge on 19 March 2025. He said Russia was trying to discredit Trump's negotiations, after Russian forces launched drone attacks on Kyiv overnight following the talks between the United States and Russia.

What the exchange showed

The ceasefire was announced on 18 March 2025, and by 19 March 2025 both sides were already accusing each other of breaching the spirit of the arrangement. Each used the same language, saying the other side was trying to discredit Trump's diplomacy. The claims about Belgorod Oblast and Krasnodar Krai came from the Russian Ministry of Defense, and the claim about the Kyiv drone attacks came from Zelenskyy.

The days before had also seen strikes on energy-related sites. On 17 March 2025, a drone strike in Astrakhan Oblast injured one person and caused a fire at an energy facility, according to the region's governor, Igor Babushkin. That was a day before the call.

On 17 March 2025, Zelenskyy also signed a law allowing Ukraine's Armed Forces to operate abroad during martial law.

The accusations of 19 March 2025 showed that an agreement reached by phone between two presidents did not settle who would be blamed for incidents on the ground. Both capitals presented themselves as defenders of the American-led process and the other as its saboteur.