Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

YAY, almost as good as the Gaza ceasefire Israel just shot the shit out of --- After call with
Trump, Putin agrees to pause attacks on Ukraine’s energy and infrastructure targets

"Russia's Gas Transit through Ukraine: End of an Era?

By Alayna Treene, Kevin Liptak, Alex Marquardt and Jennifer Hansler, CNN
Updated 4:26 PM EDT, Tue March 18, 2025
[...]
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to temporarily halt attacks on energy and infrastructure targets in Ukraine after a lengthy telephone call with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, the White House and Kremlin both said, even as Russia stopped short of signing off on a broader ceasefire to end the three-year-long conflict in Ukraine.

The two men’s conversation, their second since Trump entered office, appeared unsuccessful in convincing Putin to sign off on the 30-day truce that Trump has endorsed and Ukraine has agreed to. Instead, the White House said a narrower pause on hitting energy targets would go into place, while technical teams begin sorting out other areas in negotiations.

“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace,” the White House wrote in its description of the call. It said the technical negotiations would begin “immediately” in the Middle East.

A temporary moratorium on energy attacks, though short of a full ceasefire, would still amount to the first instance of Russia agreeing to halt certain strikes since it invaded Ukraine in 2022. Both Moscow and Kyiv could benefit from the pause. Ukraine’s energy grid has been among the biggest targets of Putin’s invasion, which has left the country to suffer periodic blackouts even in the freezing cold winters. That has prompted Ukraine to target Russian oil facilities using long-range drones.

The Kremlin’s description of the call said Trump “put forward a proposal for the parties to the conflict to mutually refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days.”

Putin “responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order,” Moscow’s readout said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/18/politics/trump-putin-ceasefire-russia-ukraine-war/index.html

Can imagine how the conversation actually went -- Fuck, Vlad, my old friend, that little shit
Zelensky has put us in a corner. What can we do? Then Putin would have put his proposal...