Ukraine and Russia are in preliminary talks to stop attacks on energy facilities - FT.

Ukraine and Russia are conducting preliminary negotiations to stop attacks on each other's energy infrastructure. But the Russian leader Vladimir Putin is unlikely to agree to a deal while Ukrainian troops are in Russia's Kursk region.

This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Financial Times.

Kyiv plans to resume talks mediated by Qatar, which were close to an agreement in August but were foiled by Ukraine's invasion of Kursk, sources told the publication.

"There are very preliminary talks about possibly restarting something. Currently, negotiations are ongoing regarding energy facilities," said a diplomat informed about the talks.

According to a senior official, Moscow and Kyiv have already reduced the frequency of attacks on each other's energy infrastructure in recent weeks as part of an understanding reached by their intelligence services.

But Putin, according to a former senior Kremlin official, is unlikely to agree to a deal until Russian forces displace Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region, where they still control around 600 square kilometers of territory.

Meanwhile, Ukraine plans to continue striking targets in Russia, including oil refineries, to put pressure on Russia in the negotiations.

According to the publication, the Kursk operation led Moscow to pull out of the previous round of talks in August when officials began planning an in-person meeting in Doha.

Qatar began mediating these negotiations in June after a summit in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.

Four Ukrainian officials told the Financial Times that last autumn Kyiv and Moscow reached a "silent agreement" not to strike each other's energy facilities. As a result, Russia refrained from large-scale attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure that winter.

This agreement was supposed to pave the way for an official agreement, sources told the publication.

However, Kyiv resumed drone attacks on Russian oil facilities in February and March this year, trying to increase pressure on Moscow after the failure of the 2023 counteroffensive.

Despite White House warnings to stop the strikes, Kyiv continued advancing, and Moscow decided that the silent agreement had been breached, sources told journalists.

Then Russia escalated the situation by launching missiles at power plants across Ukraine, including the Trypillian TPP near Kyiv, which was completely destroyed.

According to the publication, as part of the Ukrainian campaign from the beginning of 2024, at least nine of Russia's 32 largest oil refineries were affected.