Kremlin says it would pause strikes for a Ukraine election day
Moscow's offer is conditional on a vote Kyiv has not scheduled, and follows a run of ceasefire claims that markets have already priced and unwound.
Published
The Kremlin says it is ready to halt strikes for Ukraine's election day, according to TASS. Kyiv has no election scheduled while fighting continues, and Germany's Europe Minister has said any vote would require the whole country to be accessible.
The offer follows a separate claim from Trump that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to an energy ceasefire, a claim Moscow has not confirmed. Zelenskiy has said that claim caught him by surprise and that Ukraine will accept it only if Russia does too. The US has also pressed Ukraine and Europe to stop hitting Russian oil refineries, threatening to withhold arms supplies, the Financial Times has reported.
Crude fell on Sunday after Trump's ceasefire claim, with Moscow still not confirming it and Kyiv's acceptance conditional on Russia's. Gold edged up to $4,206.86 and Brent fell 1.2% the same day, as markets also weighed a Houthi strike.
The new statement on election day arrives after a pattern of Moscow pairing conditional gestures with continued strikes elsewhere, including an overnight hit on Naftogaz facilities. That pattern, and the absence of any confirmed halt, is why the offer reads as another gesture tied to a hypothetical date rather than a change on the ground, and why markets that have already reacted and unwound on earlier ceasefire claims are likely to treat this one with the same caution.