Putin's order not to hit Ukraine energy targets has 'expired': Kremlin

Putin’s order not to hit Ukraine energy targets has ‘expired’: Kremlin

By : AFP

Date: 18 April 2025 12:31pm WAT

This photograph taken on April 18, 2025 shows a damaged residential building following a missile attack in Kharkiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian strikes killed two people and wounded at least 27 others overnight in Kharkiv and Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, authorities said on April 18, 2025. (Photo by SERGEY BOBOK / AFP)

A 30-day moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month has “expired”, the Kremlin said Friday.

Russia announced the truce on March 18 following a call between Putin and US President Donald Trump, but both Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of repeatedly breaking it.

“The month has indeed expired,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a briefing call, in response to a question by AFP.

“As of this time, there have been no other instructions from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, President Putin.”

The short-lived moratorium was one of the few commitments Trump had wrangled from Russia in his attempt to broker a ceasefire in the three-year conflict.

Putin rejected a joint US-Ukrainian proposal for an unconditional and full ceasefire put to him before.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was never serious about the moratorium and that Moscow was continuing to strike Ukraine’s energy targets “despite Putin’s words”.