The Kremlin once again rejected the Ukrainian-proposed ceasefire on energy infrastructure strikes and signaled Russia’s commitment to destroying the Ukrainian power grid in the winter months.
Zelensky stated on December 9 that Ukraine is ready to agree to an “energy truce” with Russia and implied that Ukraine would halt its strikes against Russian energy infrastructure if Russia ceased its strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
Ukrainian forces have been systematically targeting Russian oil refineries across Russia in 2025, undermining Russian revenue streams that directly fund its war effort.
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected Zelensky’s energy infrastructure ceasefire offer on December 10, stating that Russia is “working towards peace, not a ceasefire.”
Lead Russian negotiator and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) CEO Kirill Dmitriev accused Zelensky, the United Kingdom, and the European Union of attempting to “trick” Russia into a temporary ceasefire, likely in an attempt to justify Russia’s refusal.
Russian State Duma International Affairs Committee First Deputy Head Alexei Chepa, similarly attempted to justify Russia’s refusal by falsely accusing Ukraine of violating a prior US-brokered energy infrastructure ceasefire in March 2025.
Russia and Ukraine never agreed to any formal terms for the ceasefire, which Russia unilaterally claimed began on March 18 and did not renew.
ISW assessed in Spring 2025 that the Kremlin exploited the temporary energy infrastructure ceasefire’s vague and unfinalized terms in order to accuse Ukraine of violating the agreements.
A Kremlin-affiliated milblogger asserted that Russia must fully destroy Ukraine’s power grid and that failing to do so could undermine Russia’s offensive operations in Ukraine.
Russian forces recently intensified large combined missile and drone strike campaigns against Ukrainian energy infrastructure ahead of the Winter 2025-2026 heating season and appear to be launching these combined strikes every seven to 10 days in an effort to break Ukraine’s power grid.
