The Kremlin announced on Friday that President Vladimir Putin has agreed to halt strikes on Kyiv for one week, ending on Sunday, following a request from his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Trump said on Thursday that he had asked Putin to stop attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region due to the severe cold wave sweeping Ukraine.
However, Moscow said the US request was intended to push forward the Washington-led negotiation process aimed at ending nearly four years of war between the two neighboring countries.
Recent Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have caused power, heating, and water outages amid a sharp drop in temperatures, deepening the humanitarian crisis.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Trump “personally requested President Putin to refrain from launching strikes on Kyiv for one week until February 1, in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations.”
Neither Trump nor Moscow specified when the request was made.
During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump said: “They have never experienced cold like this before. I personally asked President Putin to stop shelling Kyiv and nearby cities for a week, and he agreed… That was very nice.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media on Friday that “there were no strikes on energy facilities last night.”
However, he added: “Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), our energy infrastructure in several regions came under attack.”
He also accused Russia of targeting logistics routes. Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said: “In the past 24 hours alone, the enemy carried out seven drone strikes on railway facilities.”
Freezing Temperatures
Zelensky had earlier welcomed Trump’s announcement, saying: “If Russia does not strike our energy infrastructure—power plants or any other energy assets—we will not strike theirs.” These remarks were made to journalists and were under embargo until Friday.
In his daily address on Friday, Zelensky said: “The American side spoke about a halt to strikes on energy facilities for a week. The countdown began yesterday. The situation depends on our partners, and of course on the United States, regarding how things will unfold.”
Despite Trump’s statements, Russian forces launched dozens of drones and one missile at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
Officials said the attacks damaged a residential building in the Zaporizhzhia region in central Ukraine, as well as civilian infrastructure in the Chernihiv region in the north.
Ukraine’s meteorological service expects temperatures to fall to below minus 30 degrees Celsius in the coming days.
Trump’s and Zelensky’s statements on the possibility of de-escalation come just days before a second round of talks in Abu Dhabi between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators.
Following a round held last week, the talks are expected to focus on major unresolved issues, particularly Russia’s demand for the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly targeted energy facilities during every winter of the war, but this year’s campaign comes amid the coldest winter in years.
Zelensky added that he is counting on Washington to guarantee the ceasefire that was initially discussed during the first session of the Abu Dhabi talks, which were attended by Americans.
Ongoing Dispute Over Sovereignty
During those talks, the three parties openly discussed Russia’s demand to annex Ukrainian territories for the first time, but negotiators made little progress.
Zelensky said: “So far, we have not been able to reach a settlement on the issue of sovereignty, particularly with regard to part of eastern Ukraine.”
He added: “We have repeatedly affirmed our readiness to make concessions that would lead to a real end to the war, but that are in no way linked to compromising Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
Putin has repeatedly stated that Russia intends to seize the remaining parts of eastern Ukraine by force if diplomatic efforts fail.
On Friday, Moscow announced it had taken control of three additional villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukrainian authorities on Friday ordered the evacuation of families and children from seven towns in the northeastern Kharkiv region, amid the advance of Russian forces toward their outskirts.
Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media post that a decision had been made “to forcibly evacuate families with children from seven towns in the Staryi Saltiv area,” noting that 25 children remain in the region.
The exchange of prisoners of war and the remains of fallen soldiers remains one of the few areas of coordination between Kyiv and Moscow, with progress achieved during talks in Turkey last year.
However, Zelensky said Russia has halted prisoner exchanges, adding: “They are not particularly interested in exchanges, as they do not feel it brings them any benefit.”
AFP
