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Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin agreed not to fire on Kyiv for a week after the US president personally asked his Russian counterpart to halt attacks due to frigid temperatures in the Ukrainian capital.
Trump said that he was “happy” that Putin acquiesced.
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this . . . extraordinary cold,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
“And he agreed to do that. And I have to tell you, it was very nice.”
He added that people around him told him not to “waste” a call to the Russian president because his request would likely be unsuccessful.
Ukrainian officials told the FT that several previous attempts on their part to secure a temporary ceasefire with Russia had failed. Instead, swarms of drones and missiles have continued to attack critical infrastructure on a daily basis, as Russia tries to pound Ukraine into submission.
The bombardments have knocked out power, heating and water to millions of people amid sub-zero temperatures.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, said on Thursday that Ukraine was facing a “humanitarian catastrophe”. “It’s a very hard winter, and Ukrainians are really suffering. There is a humanitarian catastrophe coming there,” she said.
“We’re very happy” that Russia agreed to hold fire because missiles falling on Ukrainians amid the extreme cold is “not what they need”, Trump said.
Ukraine’s presidential office did not immediately comment on the development. But a senior official close to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Kyiv had not yet received confirmation from Russia or the US that an energy ceasefire was in place.
“If Russia won’t strike Ukraine, then Ukraine will support it. Ukraine won’t strike back,” the official said.
American and Ukrainian officials first discussed the idea of a so-called energy ceasefire during peace talks in Abu Dhabi last weekend, according to two people familiar with the matter and a senior Ukrainian official involved in the talks.
They said it was the US delegation’s idea for Ukraine and Russia to agree to halt strikes on each other’s energy facilities as a good-faith measure and a step towards de-escalation amid contentious peace talks.
“If they are ready to talk about some kind of a ceasefire, even temporary, it is worth visiting,” the senior Ukrainian told the FT. “We want it.”
Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure in recent weeks have plunged Kyiv and several other regions of the country into cold and darkness in the harshest winter of the war. Temperatures have reached minus 20C in recent days and are forecast to plunge lower next week.
In his evening address on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said his intelligence officials had warned that Russia was planning another big air attack on Ukraine and Kyiv has yet to have confirmation from Moscow that it has agreed to stop its missile and drone barrages.
“What we see is Russia striking our energy infrastructure every day,” a senior Ukrainian official said.
The US, Ukraine and Russia are expected to hold more talks as soon as soon as next week.
“The talks will continue in about a week,” Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said at the cabinet meeting in Washington. Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and US army secretary Dan Driscoll were in Abu Dhabi for trilateral talks last weekend.