Ukraine says it will halt long-range strikes on Russian energy facilities if Moscow stops hitting its grid, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after U.S. President Donald Trump raised hopes for a short pause in attacks on Kyiv and other cities amid a brutal cold snap.
Zelensky welcomed Trump’s announcement and set a clear condition: “If Russia does not strike our energy infrastructure, generation facilities or any other energy assets, we will not strike theirs.” He said he is counting on Washington to help secure the pause, first broached over the weekend during trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates.
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The Kremlin confirmed that Trump had personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold fire on Kyiv for a week until Feb. 1 to create “favorable conditions” for negotiations, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Moscow did not say when the request was made or explicitly confirm it had agreed to the pause.
Trump, speaking during a Cabinet meeting, said he asked Putin “not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week,” adding, “he agreed to do that, and I have to tell you, it was very nice.” The outreach comes as winter temperatures are forecast to plunge to minus 30C in parts of Ukraine, amplifying the humanitarian stakes of any renewed strikes.
Even as talk of de-escalation rippled through capitals, Ukraine reported a major overnight barrage: 111 attack drones and one Iskander-M ballistic missile launched from Russia’s Voronezh region, according to the Ukrainian air force. In the industrial city of Zaporizhzhia, a residential building was hit, wounding one person, officials said.
Authorities in the northern Chernihiv region said drones targeted civilian infrastructure in the regional capital, without elaborating. Russia has systematically targeted energy facilities in each winter of the war, but this season’s campaign overlaps with some of the coldest weather in years, complicating repairs and threatening power, heat and water supplies.
The flurry of statements came days before Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are due in Abu Dhabi for a second round of talks. Last week’s initial session marked the first time the sides discussed territorial questions openly, Zelensky said, but produced no breakthrough on the central dispute: control of eastern Donetsk.
“So far, we have been unable to find a compromise on the territorial issue, specifically regarding part of eastern Ukraine,” Zelensky said. Kyiv rejects what he described as Kremlin demands that Ukrainian forces withdraw from areas of Donetsk where they still hold key population centers.
“We are ready for compromises that lead to a real end to the war, but not those related to changes to Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Zelensky added, underscoring a red line that has defined Kyiv’s negotiating posture since Russia’s full-scale invasion nears its four-year mark.
Prisoner exchanges — one of the last functioning channels between the two sides — have also ground to a halt, Zelensky said. “They are not particularly interested in exchanging people, because they do not feel that it gives them anything,” he said, noting limited progress achieved in talks hosted in Turkey last year.
With temperatures plunging and energy systems strained, any reciprocal pause in strikes before Feb. 1 could provide brief relief to civilians and repair crews. Whether it holds — and whether it shapes the Abu Dhabi talks — may hinge on Moscow’s actions in the coming days and Kyiv’s insistence on territorial integrity.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
