Trump: Putin Honored Ukraine Ceasefire Promise

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin honored his pledge to pause strikes on Kiev and other key Ukrainian cities for a week, amid a winter energy crisis.

Last week, amid reports that Moscow and Kiev had reached an "energy ceasefire", Trump announced that he personally asked Putin to agree to a partial pause in strikes “because of the extreme cold.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later confirmed the truce, adding that a weeklong moratorium would last until February 1 and was aimed at “creating favorable conditions for negotiations,” referring to US-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the pause ran "Sunday to Sunday" and that ‘he kept his word on that… it’s really, really cold over there," adding he still wants Putin to "end the war."

Zelensky said Russia avoided major energy strikes during the pause but hit overnight after it ended, as Ukraine’s power grid reels from repeated attacks. Moscow says it targets only infrastructure supporting Ukraine’s military, not civilians.