By Anietie anii-bassey
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he personally urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to refrain from attacking Ukraine’s capital for a week as brutally cold weather grips the region, claiming the Kremlin leader agreed to the request even as Moscow continued drone strikes elsewhere in the country and offered no public confirmation of the pause.
Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, describing a direct appeal to Putin to spare Kyiv and other cities while temperatures plunge to dangerous levels.
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this … extraordinary cold,” Trump said, adding that Putin had “agreed to that.”
Russian officials, however, did not immediately corroborate the statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked earlier in the day whether Moscow and Kyiv were discussing a reciprocal halt to attacks on energy infrastructure and declined to comment, leaving uncertainty over whether any temporary restraint would actually take hold.
The president said he welcomed what he characterized as Putin’s willingness to pause strikes, noting that Kyiv is expected to enter a severe cold spell beginning Friday and lasting into next week.
“A lot of people said, ‘Don’t waste the call. You’re not going to get that,’” Trump said. “And he did it. And we’re very happy that they did it.”
The remarks came against the backdrop of an intensified Russian campaign against Ukraine’s electricity grid and heating systems, attacks that have left large numbers of civilians without power or running water in the depths of winter.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure to sap morale, a strategy they describe as “weaponizing winter.”
United Nations monitors have reported that last year was the deadliest for Ukrainian civilians since 2022, as Russia stepped up aerial attacks far from the front lines. The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission recorded 2,514 civilian deaths and 12,142 injuries, a 31% increase over the previous year.
Despite Trump’s comments, Ukrainian authorities said Russian drones struck overnight in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, killing three people and igniting a major fire in an apartment building. Emergency crews battled flames through the night in central Dnipropetrovsk after another attack injured two residents.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that intelligence assessments point to preparations for another large-scale Russian barrage, even as plans advance for renewed U.S.-brokered peace talks scheduled for the weekend.
“Every single Russian strike does” undermine diplomacy, Zelenskyy said late Wednesday, arguing that continuing bombardment casts doubt on Moscow’s commitment to negotiations.
Russia has carried out near-daily attacks on civilian areas behind the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line since launching its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, despite repeated international condemnation and multiple attempts to halt the fighting.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Thursday that Kyiv is working with SpaceX to address reports that Russian attack drones are using the company’s Starlink satellite internet service. Writing on Telegram, he said Ukrainian officials had contacted the U.S. aerospace firm led by Elon Musk and proposed technical solutions to prevent misuse of the system.
Fedorov thanked Musk and SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell for what he called their rapid response. SpaceX has walked a careful line during the war, publicly supporting Ukrainian connectivity while limiting certain military uses of Starlink.
Shotwell previously said the company was pleased to help Ukrainians maintain communications but sought to avoid direct involvement in combat operations.
As attacks on energy facilities continue, Ukraine faces worsening humanitarian conditions. The State Emergency Service warned that a deep freeze is expected in early February, with temperatures in some regions forecast to fall to minus 30 degrees Celsius, or minus 22 Fahrenheit, raising fears of further strain on damaged power networks.
Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict are set to resume Sunday, though skepticism remains high in Europe about Russia’s intentions. Speaking in Brussels, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, accused Moscow of escalating attacks because it has failed to achieve decisive gains on the battlefield.
“We see them increasing their attacks on Ukraine because they can’t make moves on the battlefield. So, they are attacking civilians,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers, calling for increased pressure on the Kremlin to force concessions.
Kallas stressed that Europe, which views Ukraine as central to its own security, must play a full role in any settlement talks. The Trump administration has taken the lead in recent peace efforts, prompting concern among some European leaders that their interests may not be adequately represented.
The human cost of the war continues to mount. An international think tank reported this week that the number of soldiers killed, wounded or missing on both sides could approach 2 million by spring, with Russia suffering the highest troop losses of any major power in a single conflict since World War II.
Ukraine says Russia has dramatically expanded its drone campaign, launching more than 6,000 drones over the past month alone. Fedorov said Moscow is constantly refining both its aircraft and its tactics, forcing Ukrainian air defenses to adapt, though he declined to provide details.
In a separate development, Ukrainian officials reported that Russia transferred roughly 1,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers killed in the war, while Moscow received the remains of 38 of its own troops, according to Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliev, who has participated in previous exchanges.
As winter tightens its grip and diplomacy hangs in the balance, the battlefield and the negotiating table remain tightly intertwined, with civilians across Ukraine continuing to bear the brunt of a conflict now nearing its fourth year.
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