Trump says Putin vowed to halt Ukraine strikes because of cold weather

Catherine Lucey, Bloomberg News on Jan 29, 2026

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WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said he had successfully appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the bombing of cities and towns in Ukraine as the country prepares for an extreme cold snap.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

Trump said leadership in Ukraine “almost didn’t believe it” but was “very happy” with the Russian leader’s pledge.

“On top of everything else, that’s not what they need — is missiles coming into their towns and cities,” Trump said.

Temperatures are expected to plunge far below freezing across Ukraine this week. Many people in the country are already facing heating and electricity outages with infrastructure damaged by recent Russian attacks. Strikes by Russian forces killed six people in central and southern Ukraine on Thursday, AFP reported, citing regional officials.

A Kremlin spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. The Russian embassy in Washington referred questions about Trump’s remarks to Putin’s office and the foreign ministry. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow earlier Thursday that the government will not discuss the content of private diplomatic conversations.

“Those trying to make all sorts of statements on what is being discussed and who promised what and to whom are treating the negotiating practices in a somewhat negligent manner and are demonstrating a certain level of indecency,” he said, according to an official transcript.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his “important statement.”

“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 posted Thursday on X.

A day earlier, the Ukrainian leader said he believed, based on intelligence, that Russia was preparing a large-scale drone and missile attack on the country’s energy infrastructure.

“Everyone who truly wants peace must think about how to ensure that the Russians are preparing not for new massive attacks but for ending the war,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.

Yet Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, expressed optimism on the status of ongoing talks to broker an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying there were “lots of good things happening between the counterparties.”

“We have a security protocol agreement that’s largely finished, a prosperity agreement that’s largely finished,” he said. “And I think the people of Ukraine are now hopeful and expectant that we’re going to deliver a peace deal sometime soon.”

Those discussions are expected to resume early next month.

(Courtney McBride and Daryna Krasnolutska contributed to this report.)