The Kremlin said on September 14 that Russia welcomes United States President Donald Trump's call for Ukraine to stop striking Russian oil refineries, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
"Certainly, any call on the Kyiv regime to stop strikes on peaceful economic infrastructure can only be welcomed," Peskov said, according to a translation of his remarks.
Asked whether Russia itself was prepared to reciprocate by halting strikes on Ukrainian economic infrastructure, Peskov declined to answer.
Trump's appeal to Zelensky
Trump had called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on September 13 to stop strikes on Russian enterprises that produce diesel fuel. The US president said the strikes on Russian refineries were causing a shortage of diesel fuel and pushing up its price around the world.
Trump said the situation was not happening because of the Middle East, but because of what was happening between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump did not provide evidence to support his claim that Ukrainian strikes were behind the global diesel shortage.
Background: strikes since the invasion
Peskov is the longtime spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin and is the Kremlin's primary public voice on foreign policy and the war in Ukraine.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, facilities on Russian territory as well as in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine have repeatedly come under air attack. Ukraine's General Staff has confirmed most of these strikes, saying Ukraine's Defense Forces are systematically carrying out measures aimed at reducing the combat potential of Russian occupying forces and at forcing Russia to end its armed aggression against Ukraine.
What comes next
Neither the Kremlin nor Washington has announced any further steps following Trump's call for Ukraine to halt the refinery strikes, and Peskov's refusal to commit Russia to a reciprocal halt on strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure leaves that question unresolved.
