More energy trouble coming our way

The Washington Post reported on Aug. 17 that before Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk region, Kyiv and Moscow were set to send delegations to Doha to negotiate an agreement on halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both sides. The incursion derailed the indirect talks, the Post said, which means energy-related strikes will likely continue. Czech Energy Envoy Václav Bartuška told Czech TV on Aug. 16 that the rise in natural-gas rates after the incursion was largely due to concerns about what Ukraine would do next, given that it has drone capabilities to hit Russian LNG terminals. That's something that would affect not just Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Bulgaria, he said, but also Spain, France, the U.K. and others. MP Ondřej Benešík of KDU-ČSL told Czech TV on Fri. that Kyiv needs to be given approval to hit refineries and depots on Russian territory with U.S. missiles. Pres. Petr Pavel would presumably support this, given that he thought Nord Stream was a legitimate target.