A Ukrainian utility worker, left, and a soldier check damage from Russian airstrikes on the outskirts of Sloviansk, Ukraine, on Wednesday. As Ukraine and Russia prepare for talks that would place a temporary halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, each side has continued to accuse the other of fresh attacks on the power grid. NICOLE TUNG NYT
KYIV, Ukraine -- As Ukraine and Russia prepare for talks that would place a temporary halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, each side has continued to accuse the other of fresh attacks on the power grid, underscoring the deep mistrust between them.
Overnight into Friday, part of a major Russian energy facility near the Ukrainian border that once pumped natural gas to western Europe was set ablaze in an attack that each country accused the other of launching. Videos shared by Russian military bloggers and verified by The New York Times showed a large fire at the gas metering station, with what appeared to be pipelines engulfed in flames.
Also Friday, Russian authorities in the southwestern Krasnodar region reported a secondary explosion at a fuel depot that had been burning for two days after a Ukrainian drone attack. Russian officials said the fire had spread to more than 100,000 square feet.
Ukraine and Russia agreed this week to a 30-day ceasefire on strikes against energy infrastructure, the first major step toward de-escalation in more than three years of war. The agreement followed separate phone calls between President Donald Trump and the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to broker a partial ceasefire.
But the details of how and when this partial truce would take hold remain unresolved and are expected to be hammered out in U.S.-mediated talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said his country would draw up a list of infrastructure facilities that could be covered by the ceasefire to avoid misunderstandings.
Strikes on energy facilities have been central to each side’s efforts to weaken the other throughout the war. Russia has pounded Ukraine’s power grid, aiming to make life unbearable for civilians and hinder the country’s war effort. Ukraine’s strikes on Russian facilities focus on crippling its vast oil industry, cutting off revenues that finance its military operations.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian national railway said its power system had been attacked. The same day, Russia said Ukrainian drones attacked the fuel depot in the Krasnodar region. Neither claim could be independently verified.
Both sides have an interest in blaming the other for violating the ceasefire before it even begins, seeking to portray their opponent as untrustworthy. Against that backdrop, Friday’s attack on the Russian gas facility fit neatly into this propaganda war.
On Friday, Trump declined to say whether he would impose sanctions he has threatened against Russia for attacks on Ukraine. He also avoided acknowledging that Russia had invaded Ukraine.
“They’re fighting against each other,” he told reporters, adding that he thought there would be a ceasefire “pretty soon.” He said that “contracts” aimed at “dividing up the lands” were being negotiated.
The gas facility that caught fire sits just across the border from Ukraine, near the town of Sudzha, in territory that Ukrainian forces seized during their incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region last summer. But recent Russian advances have pushed back Ukrainian troops in the area from all but a sliver of land, and it was unclear whether they still controlled the gas site as of Friday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had “deliberately” blown up the Sudzha gas metering station as its military retreated from the area. It called the attack “a deliberate provocation” designed to “discredit the peace initiatives of the U.S. president.”
The Ukrainian army, though, suggested the explosion was a so-called false flag operation by Russia designed to blame Ukraine. It said Russia had “repeatedly shelled” the station in the past as it counterattacked Ukrainian troops in the area.
“Russians continue to create numerous fakes and seek to mislead the international community,” the army said in a Facebook post.
Until recently, the station was the sole transit point for Russian gas to the European Union through Ukraine. It ceased operations on Jan. 1, after Ukraine refused to renew the transit agreement, part of a broader push by Ukraine and its allies to reduce reliance on Russian energy.
That means Friday’s attack on the station will not immediately affect Russian gas exports. But if the damage is severe, it could have long-term consequences and hinder a potential resumption of exports after the war.
Damien Ernst, an energy expert and professor at the University of Liège in Belgium, said videos of the aftermath of the attack suggested that some equipment, including pipelines, had been hit, causing what he described as “significant” damage that could take several months to repair.
In a separate attack Thursday, Ukraine struck weapons warehouses at a military airfield deep inside Russian territory. Verified satellite images from after the attack showed multiple craters at the base and what looked like blown-up ammunition depots.
Kyiv: Saudi Arabia talks are of a technical nature
The talks between Ukrainian and U.S. representatives in Saudi Arabia on Monday will focus primarily on technicalities surrounding a potential limited ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv said.
“This is a meeting to establish the parameters for the various proposed ceasefire options currently on the table,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said Friday.
Tykhyi reiterated that Ukraine had agreed to the U.S. proposal for a full ceasefire lasting 30 days and again blamed Russia for the failure to implement any sort of ceasefire so far.
He added that Ukraine had no information on how the separate negotiations between the U.S. and Russia would unfold in Riyadh, noting that Ukraine is preparing only for talks with American representatives.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will not travel to the gulf state, but Defense Minister Rustem Umerov is set to participate.
The talks in Riyadh are set to focus on a U.S. proposal to protect shipping in the Black Sea by implementing a limited maritime ceasefire.
Meanwhile, the Russian leadership criticized the European Union’s plans to significantly boost the bloc’s defenses, made as the Kremlin continues to wage war on Ukraine.
“The militarization of Europe is an extremely dangerous trend,” said Kremlin spokesman Peskov, saying it would neither lead to détente nor restore trust. “Nor does it make Europe safer,” he said.
Many Europeans do not like it, but almost all politicians are following the mainstream, the spokesman said.
Peskov was responding a day after the decision by EU leaders to significantly strengthen Europe’s defense readiness in the coming years.
The European Union plans to mobilize $868 billion over the next four years, including about $163 billion in loans for arms projects and exemptions from EU debt rules for defense investments.
Russia recruits Ukrainian children for sabotage, UN report says
The U.N. Human Rights Office has credible evidence that Russia has recruited Ukrainian children to conduct surveillance and commit acts of sabotage on the Ukrainian military, according to a report released on Friday.
At least 11 children, aged between 13 and 17, have been detained in connection with acts of sabotage, the office reported, citing the Ukrainian public prosecutor.
The minors are contacted on social media and encouraged to commit acts including setting fire to Ukrainian military vehicles or railway installations, the report said. They are promised money in exchange for videos of their actions.
The office documented at least 200 cases of minors being abducted to Russia in the first year of the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, the office said it has no access to the Russian-occupied territories and is therefore unable to assess the full extent of such abductions.
In its report, the U.N. Human Rights Office also denounced the exposure of Ukrainian children in the occupied territories to Russian war propaganda. It said military training takes place in schools and youth groups, which violates the duty of an occupying power to respect the education and culture of the population.
Dpa contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Copyright 2025
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 8:13 AM.