Name: Zelensky says Ukraine open to energy ceasefire with Russia | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-03-31T13:06:44.000Z
Duration: 5 min
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Now, another development when it comes to the impact, the fallout of this ongoing conflict in Iran.

President Zelensky of Ukraine says that Ukraine would be open to an energy ceasefire with Russia in a bid to help ease the Iran-war oil crisis.

Speaking after his recent visit to the Gulf States, he said that Ukraine's allies have urged him to scale back attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure amid this ongoing global fuel crisis,

but he has insisted Zelensky has insisted that the attacks would only end if Russia stops targeting Ukraine's energy system.

Let's cross over to Kyiv because BBC Monitoring's chief analyst, Vitaly Shevchenko, joins us live now.

So, Vitaly, we're not talking about a ceasefire when it comes to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine now in its fifth year,

but just talk us through what is your understanding of what Zelensky's saying.

Well, Kai Shu, as you will know, President Zelensky all this time, uh, the past couple of years, in fact, he's been saying that Ukraine is all for a ceasefire.

Now, it's up to Russia to stop attacking Ukraine, and then the fire will cease.

So that is not, uh, something that he has not said before.

The, uh, the thing that attracted me in, in his remarks to journalists today was that, uh, countries which he called Ukraine's partners, or some of Ukraine's partners, has asked him to reduce, uh, Ukraine's attacks on, uh, Russia's energy infrastructure because clearly, as, uh, fuel prices are surging across the globe, this causes enormous concern everywhere.

Uh, it's not immediately clear which countries, uh, he, he meant specifically, but, um, recently, the United States, uh, has, has eased some of the, uh, sanctions imposed on Russian oil because of the, uh, war in Iran.

And Vladimir Zelensky said, "Yeah, we, we can cease our attacks on Russia,

but they need to stop attacking us first." And this is just one example of how the war in Iran affects the war in Ukraine, how these two wars are interconnected.

Ukraine is getting much less attention, of course.

Ukraine, uh, potentially is facing, um, shortages of, of fuel.

And, uh, I was on a Zoom call with President Zelensky on Saturday,

and he asked them about how, uh, probable this, this shortage is.

And he said, "Well, Ukraine's army has enough diesel, but

for now," and he, um, he tried to, uh, to secure more supplies of fuel during his tour of the Gulf States.

So this war in Iran, it benefits Russia for now.

But also, it opens some possibilities for Ukraine, such as offering, uh, drones, drone technology, and

drone expertise to, uh, countries in the Gulf.

He also, uh, the Ukrainian president said that Ukraine actually has experience in unblocking, um, uh, trade routes in the sea.

Um, a couple of years ago, when Russia tried to stop Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, Ukraine successfully, uh, unblocked that trade route.

So Vladimir Zelensky said, "Well, this is the kind of expertise that will be useful, uh, potentially in unblocking the Strait of Hormuz as well." Vitaly, briefly, if you would, when it comes to the trip that Volodymyr Zelensky made to the Gulf States, it was fascinating to hear you say that the, the partners, the allies, are now putting pressure on, uh, Zelensky to stop targeting Russian oil-energy infrastructure.

But we know that Zelensky was trying to make new partners, new allies with Gulf States by giving, by sharing, uh, the expertise that they have,

Did, do we know whether he got any of that?

and I quote, "Historic agreements reached with the Gulf States." But when journalists prodded him, "So what sort of agreements?

What have you actually agreed?" he said, "Well, no, we can't disclose any details." He only spoke about drones, uh, help in protecting Ukraine against Russian missiles,

and securing more fuel supplies from the Gulf.

Vitaly, as always, thanks so, so much for bringing us up to date.

and it just goes to show just how interlinked, uh, uh, the global situation is,

and we're seeing the repercussions of this ongoing conflict.