US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to not attack the energy infrastructure in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for “at least a week” as temperatures plummet.
“Because of the extreme cold… I personally asked President Putin not to target Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week,” Trump said, adding that Putin had agreed and that “we are very happy with the decision.”
Trump said they had both also discussed ceasefire possibilities in Ukraine in wake of the second round of peace talks scheduled to take place in the UAE.
Earlier on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on reports that Moscow and Kyiv had reached a so-called “energy ceasefire”.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, meanwhile, said that “there is an agreement on an energy truce”, but noted there was still no confirmed start date for the arrangement.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly called for an ‘energy ceasefire’ under which both sides would halt attacks on each other’s energy infrastructure, including power plants and the electricity grid.
The calls intensified this week after sustained Russian strikes on Ukraine’s power infrastructure left nearly one million households without electricity on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian Energy Minister, German Galushchenko.
Russia insists that its strikes target only facilities used by the Ukrainian armed forces and military-industrial complex, describing them as a direct response to Ukrainian deep strikes on Russian civilians and critical infrastructure.
Forecasts indicate temperatures in Kyiv will drop to between minus 13 and minus 20 degrees Celsius in some areas over the weekend.
Russia and Ukraine had previously agreed to an energy ceasefire in March 2025 following talks involving the Trump administration.
The arrangement was short-lived, however, as both sides resumed attacks on each other’s energy facilities, with Ukraine targeting Russian oil refineries and gas infrastructure, and Russia striking Ukraine’s power grid.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, later stated that Moscow chose not to retaliate in kind at the time, preferring to honour the ceasefire.
Last month, Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron renewed calls for a truce, but Peskov said “Russia only seeks a permanent and lasting ceasefire”. “A stable, guaranteed, long-term peace, achieved through the signing of appropriate documents, is an absolute priority,” he added.
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