UK prime minister blames Russia for failure of proposed Ukraine energy ceasefire
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has blamed Russia for the failure of a proposed ceasefire covering strikes on energy infrastructure, pointing to continued Russian attacks on Ukraine after US President Donald Trump's announcement.
“President Trump called for an energy ceasefire; President Zelenskyy said he would engage in that immediately,” Burnham told reporters on October 15, according to Sky News.
“And what has Russia done in the last few days has been bombing energy infrastructure in Ukraine.”
“So it is quite clear once again to the world who the aggressor is in this conflict,” he added.
Trump announced on October 11 that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt attacks on each other's energy infrastructure. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy subsequently said the announcement was news to him but that Kyiv was ready to stop such strikes if Moscow did the same.
Russia continued attacking Ukrainian energy facilities in the following days. There has been no confirmed agreement between Kyiv and Moscow to implement the proposed ceasefire.
Burnham acknowledged that Zelenskyy had faced “a difficult few days” following tensions with Washington.
The British prime minister pledged to “build that bridge” with the United States to maintain support for Ukraine and bring international partners together behind Zelenskyy.