We've been highlighting the significant impact of the Iran war on developments in Ukraine, where the over four-year long war is showing no end in sight. Ukraine's President Zelensky has made clear his view that the current global focus on the Iran conflict has put Kiev in a weakened position.
Already, Ukraine's international partners are 'primarily' sending their anti-ballistic missile systems to the Middle East - with Ukraine 'forgotten' - Zelensky has recently said. But there's more, as the hits keep coming: Zelensky revealed Monday that some of Ukraine's backers have sent "signals" to scale back long-range strikes on Russia's oil sector as global energy prices have soared.
"Recently, following such a severe global energy crisis, we have indeed received signals from some of our partners about how to reduce our responses in the oil sector and the energy sector of the Russian Federation," Zelensky told journalists in a WhatsApp briefing, reported by Reuters.
This is perhaps what's behind his calling for an Easter holiday truce with Russia. He had on the same day that he told journalists about a potential pause on long-range attacks on Russian energy stated: "If Russia is ready to stop hitting Ukrainian energy facilities, we will not respond against their energy sector."
Zelensky just came off a tour of Middle East Gulf states, even amid Iran's ongoing retaliation in the region, while seeking Ukrainian security assistance. In recent days he met with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan.
Reuters notes of this, "Fresh from a four-day visit to the Middle East, Zelenskiy said that he had reached agreement with some countries in the region to provide energy support to Ukraine."
"Zelenskiy said at the weekend during his Middle East tour that he had reached a deal on diesel deliveries for a year to Ukraine, without providing further details," the report continues. "Diesel is vital for the functioning of the Ukrainian armed forces and the country's agricultural sector, the bedrock of the economy."
So indeed any new pause in tit-for-tat assaults on energy infrastructure would be a welcome reprieve for Ukraine as well.
One interesting aspect to the Reuters report is that while the US side hasn't commented, one unnamed source tries to inject that the 'signaling' on reducing or halting long-range strikes on energy is actually coming from Moscow:
A source familiar with the situation said U.S. officials had conveyed this message to their Ukrainian counterparts as part of their regular conversations, adding that the initial "signals" appeared to have come from Moscow.
And yet, even as Zelensky himself admits, Trump's easing of Russian oil sanctions has put the Kremlin in the driver's seat, in terms of energy leverage, at this crucial moment - also as the peace process and talks between Moscow and Keiv are non-existent.
In the meantime, amid waning support from the Trump administration, Zelensky has set his sights on greatly improving ties with the wealthy oil and gas monarchies in the Gulf.