After a phone call with Donald Trump, PUTIN agreed to a winter truce that will stop the bombing of Ukrainian cities for a week.
Millions of Ukrainian civilians continue to freeze in harsh winter conditions without electricity due to the onslaught of Russian attacks targeting the power grid.
President Trump announced the temporary peace deal amid fears the Kremlin’s attacks are pushing the war-torn country into a humanitarian crisis.
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kiev and various cities for a week, and he agreed,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting, referring to the “extraordinary winter” in the region.
“It was very nice. A lot of people said, ‘Don’t waste the call, you won’t get it.’ And he did,” Trump added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday declined to comment on reports that the two countries had agreed to a ceasefire in mutual attacks on the other’s energy infrastructure.
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The call to suspend the attacks follows repeated Russian strikes on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, leaving many people across the country without heat in the bitter winter.
The latest two Russian missile and drone attacks on the capital Kyiv in January left about a million people without electricity and 6,000 apartment buildings without heating.
After weeks of repairs, about 700 buildings are still without heat.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, writing on Telegram after Wednesday’s energy meeting, said 610,000 Kyiv households were left without power.
Kiev is expected to enter a bitterly cold stretch from Friday, which is expected to last other week.
Temperatures below -20 degrees Celsius are expected in the northern and eastern parts of Ukraine, according to official forecasts, which is extremely low for the country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a Wednesday evening speech against new Russian attacks on energy facilities.
Trump added that there had been “great progress” in US-brokered talks between Kiev and Moscow to end Russia’s invasion of its pro-Western neighbour, soon to enter its fifth year.
Russian attacks killed six people in central and southern Ukraine on Thursday, regional authorities and emergency services said.
Trilateral talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are expected to continue on Sunday with US mediators in Abu Dhabi.
The first round of talks held last week produced no breakthrough in finding an end to the four-year bloody war, but the US plan to guarantee Ukraine’s security is “100 percent” ready for signature, Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader said he was waiting for the time and place to sign the US documents, which would be a significant step towards ending Vladimir Putin’s bloody war.
It will then be sent to the US Congress and the Ukrainian Parliament for ratification.
Zelenskyy said: “For us, security guarantees are primarily security guarantees from the United States.”
“The document is 100 percent ready and we are waiting for our partners to confirm the date and place for us to sign it.”
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