Trump says he ‘personally’ requested Putin to halt firing on Kyiv amid extreme winter

Trump said Ukraine “almost didn’t believe it,” adding that officials there were “very happy” because the country was “struggling badly.”

.@SEPeaceMissions: “We had five Russian generals last Sunday in Abu Dhabi… and we think we made a lot of progress…”@POTUS: “Because of the cold, extreme cold… I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns…” pic.twitter.com/UZAHSjTjVu

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2026

There was no immediate official confirmation from the Kremlin of a partial ceasefire. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Washington for the initiative.

In recent weeks, Russian assaults on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left thousands of apartment buildings in Kyiv without heat during severe winter conditions — a campaign widely viewed as an attempt to weaken civilian morale. Emergency crews were still working to restore heating and electricity in parts of the capital following Russian airstrikes last Saturday.

Zelenskyy acknowledged the development in a post on X, thanking Trump for the effort.

“An important statement by @POTUS about the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period. Power supply is a foundation of life. We value the efforts of our partners to help us protect lives,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Thank you, President Trump! Our teams discussed this in the United Arab Emirates. We expect the agreements to be implemented. De-escalation steps contribute to real progress toward ending the war.”

We are communicating with our partners – with the American side – about truly effective formats and truly necessary results.

Ukraine is ready for meetings, Ukraine is ready for decisions, and we expect our partners to be able to act as effectively as possible – in Europe, in… pic.twitter.com/vmvVIK52rs

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 29, 2026

In a separate post, Zelenskyy said efforts to restore electricity were underway, however, he described the task as “extremely difficult” given the scale of Russian attacks. He again thanked the US for its efforts to halt strikes on energy facilities, adding that he hoped Washington could help ensure such measures were implemented.

“We are communicating with our partners — with the American side — about truly effective formats and truly necessary results,” Zelenskyy said, adding, “We don’t miss any opportunity to achieve peace and guarantee security.”

Russia launched drone and missile strikes on cities across Ukraine earlier this week, though no major air attacks were reported on Thursday.

Russia on Thursday said that it had once again invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Moscow for peace talks, amid intensifying US-led efforts to bring an end to the nearly four-year conflict.