Spanish
The Kremlin confirmed this Friday that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, asked the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, to suspend air strikes against Kyiv for a week until February 1, when the second round of three-way negotiations will be held in Abu Dhabi.
"Indeed, President Trump personally addressed President Putin to refrain for a week, until February 1, from carrying out attacks against Kyiv in order to create favorable conditions for the holding of negotiations," said Dmitry Peskov, presidential spokesman, in his daily telephone press briefing.
Peskov did not specify whether Putin had responded positively to the request and whether it included all attacks or only the bombings against the energy infrastructure of the Ukrainian capital when temperatures are approaching 20 degrees below zero.
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"I have nothing more to add. I want to emphasize that this is about creating favorable conditions for negotiations," he pointed out in response to the reporters' insistence. Putin criticized Kiev a few days ago for asking for an energy truce while the Ukrainian army continues to hammer the civilian infrastructure of the Russian regions. Regarding this, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this Friday that Ukraine would join the energy truce. "If Russia does not attack our energy system, whether it be the generation capacity or any other element, we will not attack their energy system," Zelensky said in a meeting with journalists cited by the Ukrainian public agency, Ukrinform. He explained that the possibility of an energy truce was raised by the American mediators at the trilateral meeting with Ukrainians and Russians that took place at the end of last week in Abu Dhabi. Zelensky noted that there was no agreement on this matter between Ukrainians and Russians. Trump asserted on Thursday that Putin had accepted his request not to attack "neither Kiev nor the cities and towns for a week". "It's not just cold. It's extraordinary. It's record-breaking cold there. We are very happy because, apart from everything, the last thing they (the Ukrainians) need is for missiles to fall on their towns and cities," he pointed out. Russia again attacked Ukrainian territory last night with more than a hundred drones and a missile, but these were directed against Ukrainian border regions. In cities further from the front like Kyiv and Odesa, which suffer attacks on their energy infrastructure almost every night, the usual sirens that announce the arrival of missiles and drones did not sound at night. Millions of Ukrainians have started the year with power and heating outages lasting several days due to massive Russian attacks on their energy system. Ukraine is experiencing the harshest winter in recent years.
