Trump says that in the bitter cold, Putin consented to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities.

Donald Trump has claimed that Vladimir Putin has agreed to cease strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for one week after he submitted a personal appeal to the Russian leader owing to the terrible cold in Ukraine.  Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, stated that Trump had made an announcement but did not immediately confirm that the ceasefire was in effect. “important statement … about the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period”.

During a cabinet meeting of Trump’s closest advisers at the White House on Thursday, the short-term truce was first revealed; Russia has not verified it. “I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and various towns for a week and he agreed to do that,” Trump said during the meeting. “I have to tell you it was very nice.” The request was made during a previously unreported phone conversation between the two leaders. Trump did not specify when the truce would begin or finish.

Trump’s public announcement of the deal appeared to startle both Russia and Ukraine. Zelenskyy subsequently wrote that a ceasefire on power plants and other essential energy infrastructure had been discussed between the two sides and that he “expects the agreements to be implemented.” Prior to Trump’s announcement, military-affiliated Russian and Ukrainian social media channels had conjectured about a brief ceasefire, but the reports had not been verified. The Kremlin refused to comment on the possibility of negotiations for an energy ceasefire on Thursday morning.

Trump also claimed he had informed Ukrainian officials about the ceasefire. “Ukraine … almost didn’t believe it but they were very happy about it,” Trump said. According to news agency , two recent Russian missile and drone attacks in Kyiv left over 6,000 buildings without heating and over a million people without electricity. The nation is currently experiencing an extremely severe winter, with temperatures predicted to plummet as low as -20C (-4F) in the upcoming weeks.

Hours earlier, Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, had denied comments by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, that the sole issue remaining to negotiate between Kyiv and Moscow to stop the war involved authority over Ukrainian territory in the Donbas region. “The territorial issue is the most important issue but many other issues remain on the agenda,” Ushakov said. Asked about security guarantees the west had pledged to Ukraine in the event of a deal, Ushakov said: “No one agreed on this.” This weekend, discussions between Russia and Ukraine are anticipated to continue in Abu Dhabi, with a particular focus on military contacts and measures to monitor a possible truce. For the first time since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022, the three sides convened for trilateral discussions last week that included US officials.