UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky said today that an offer from Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to attack energy infrastructure was “very much at odds with reality” following an overnight barrage of drone strikes across the country.

President Zelensky said that he would speak with US President Donald Trump later in the day and expected to hear more about the US leader’s phone call with President Putin about a ceasefire.

Mr Zelensky told a news conference in Helsinki: “Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities.”

Russia claimed that it had not targeted Ukraine’s energy facilities but accused Kiev of attacking equipment near one of its pipelines.

Moscow said Ukraine targeted its energy facility in the Krasnodar region bordering the Crimean peninsula several hours after the Russian and US talks. 

The ministry said that three drones targeted oil transfer equipment that feeds the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

“It is absolutely clear that we are talking about yet another provocation deliberately concocted by the Kiev regime, aimed at derailing the peace initiatives of the US president,” the ministry said.

Russia said that its air defences intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones over the Azov Sea and the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and the nearby regions of Oryol and Tula.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Unfortunately, we see that for now there is no reciprocity on the part of the Kiev regime.”

Russian strikes, which hit civilian areas and damaged a hospital, followed President Putin’s refusal to back a full 30-day ceasefire during discussions with President Trump.

The White House described the call between the two leaders as the first step in a “movement to peace.”

There was no indication that President Putin is backing away from his key conditions for a prospective peace deal.

The Russian conditions include guarantees that Ukraine will not receive weapons shipments from international backers or train soldiers during any 30-day pause.

President Putin is also insisting that any deal should include recognition of Ukrainian territory captured by Russia, limits on the size of Ukraine’s army, in addition to a full ban on Nato membership and on any peacekeepers on the ground.

President Zelensky said that the red line for Ukraine “is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. 

“We will not go for it.”