Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky proposes energy ceasefire with Moscow as Iran conflict sends oil prices soaring – UK Times

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has proposed a agreement to mutually stope strikes on energy facilities in Ukraine and Russia, to deal with the ongoing global energy crisis triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The offer from Kyiv came as the war in the Middle East reached its one month mark with no end in sight. Energy prices have surged with Brent crude reaching $115 on Monday.

Finland has reported a suspected territorial ⁠violation by unmanned aerial vehicles in the southeast of the country, which the Finnish prime minister said was likely linked to Ukrainian drone attacks against Russia.

Nearby countries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last week that several Ukrainian drones had crashed on ⁠their territory after going astray during ​attacks ⁠on Russian oil export facilities on the Baltic Sea coast.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on Russian oil refineries and export ⁠routes over recent weeks in an attempt to weaken Russia’s war ​economy ⁠and as peace talks, brokered ‌by Washington, have stalled.

On Sunday morning, several small, slow-moving objects flying at low altitude were detected over a maritime area and ‌in southeastern Finland, the defence ministry said in ‌a statement.

Finland’s prime minister Petteri Orpo said the stray drones seemed to be linked to Ukraine’s attacks on Russian targets in Finland’s vicinity.

“Russia has extremely strong electronic jamming capabilities, ⁠which could explain why these drones are drifting into Finnish airspace, something that is a very serious issue,” Orpo told Finland’s public broadcaster Yle.

Finland sent its F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets to recognise flying objects that approached its territorial waters, one of which was identified as a Ukrainian AN196 drone, the Finnish Air Force said.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said that the nation’s allies sent Kyiv signals about reducing its long-range strikes on Russia’s oil sector, as the global energy prices have soared.

Speaking to reporters in a WhatsApp chat on Monday, he said Ukraine was ready to reciprocate if Russia stops attacking the Ukrainian energy system, and that Kyiv is open to an Easter ceasefire.

“Recently, following such a severe global energy crisis, we have indeed received signals from some of our partners about how to reduce our responses in the oil sector and the energy sector of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskiy said.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has limited international supplies of oil and gas as prices soar. This, in combination with Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has left the nation scrambling for supplies.

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The onslaught affected 11 regions and seven cities were hit, marking it out as the largest aerial attack in a single day so far.

Britain has deemed Russia’s accusations against its diplomats “completely unacceptable” after Moscow expelled one from the country over alleged economic espionage on Monday.

The British foreign ministry also said the UK would not tolerate “intimidation” of its embassy staff or their families.

​Russia said on Monday that it had ordered a British diplomat ⁠to leave the country after discovering signs of espionage, Russian media quoted the Federal Security ⁠Service ​as saying.

The ⁠FSB, the main successor to the ⁠Soviet-era KGB, said that the ​second ⁠secretary at ‌the Moscow embassy had been ordered to leave within ‌two weeks after ‌FSB counter-intelligence officers revealed the “undeclared intelligence presence”.

The FSB said that ⁠it had found signs that the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian ‌Federation,” Russian media reported.

In particular, ​the FSB said, ‌the diplomat ⁠had tried to obtain ⁠sensitive information about the Russian ‌economy ​during informal meetings.

A Russian ​strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk killed three people and injured ⁠13 yesterday, police said, one of several attacks in frontline areas.

Ukraine’s national police said a 13-year-old boy ⁠was among the dead. A statement said Russian ⁠forces used glide bombs in ​the strike ⁠on Kramatorsk, ‌which has been a frequent target throughout the four-year-old war ‌pitting Kyiv against ‌Moscow.

Kramatorsk came under a new attack two hours after the initial ⁠strike.

Other cities hit in Russian attacks included the nearby town of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka and the city of Sloviansk, farther north.

Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are heavily defended ‌cities lying on what has ​been dubbed the “fortress ‌belt” – seen as ⁠key targets in Russia’s slow ⁠westward advance to capture Donetsk Region.