Donald Trump has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a one-week ceasefire in Ukraine.
‘Because of the cold – extreme cold – I personally asked President Putin not fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week. He agreed to do that… during this extraordinary cold. I have to tell you, it was very nice,’ Trump said at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin.
‘A lot of people said, “Don’t waste the call, you’re not going to get that,” And he did it. We’re very happy that they did it,’ Trump added.
It comes as Kyiv is bracing for dangerously low temperatures beginning Friday and persisting through the middle of next week.
Russian forces have been targeting Ukraine’s energy grid, leaving vast swaths of the population without heating during the coldest months of the year.
Tragedy struck southern Ukraine overnight as authorities reported that a Russian drone strike claimed three lives in the Zaporizhzhia region. This escalation comes despite preparations for US–brokered peace talks scheduled for this weekend.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains cautious, warning that Moscow is likely positioning itself for another major offensive even as diplomatic efforts intensify.
The Trump Administration has indicated to Ukraine that any US security guarantees are contingent on Kyiv first agreeing to a peace plan that would see it surrendering territory to Vladimir Putin.
The US is calling on Ukraine to give up the Donbas region, its industrial heartland made up of Luhansk and Donetsk, sources told the Financial Times.
The White House also suggested it would promise Kyiv more weaponry to reinforce its peacetime army, but only on the condition that it agrees to withdraw its forces from the parts of the eastern region it still holds, according to two sources.
Zelensky was ready to sign documents on security guarantees and a postwar $800 billion ‘prosperity plan’ with the US as early as this month, giving him the upper–hand in future negotiations with the Kremlin.
But the Trump administration is now signaling that any American security assurances depend on reaching an agreement with Moscow first.
Washington is yet to give its final approval to either agreement, despite the fact that Zelensky said the texts of the security guarantees, which he discussed with President Donald Trump at Davos last week, were ‘100 per cent ready’.
Putin has repeatedly demanded that Kyiv make painful territorial concessions to end the war, but Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine would not hand over the Donbas in exchange for peace.
A top Ukrainian official said it was increasingly ambiguous whether Washington would commit to assurances.
‘They stop each time the security guarantees can be signed,’ the official said.#
