US President Donald Trump announced today that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had agreed, at his request, that Russia would not strike the capital Kiev and other cities in Ukraine, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
Speaking at a meeting of his cabinet, Trump explained that he had asked Putin to do so because of the record cold.
The temperature in Kiev is below zero, and a cold wave is expected next week, as a result of which thermometers in the Ukrainian capital will record values up to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The US president announced great progress in the trilateral peace talks involving the two sides in the conflict and the United States.
Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff meanwhile announced that These talks will continue in about a week.
The first round took place in Abu Dhabi on Friday and Saturday.
Witkoff said that the issues of future guarantees for Ukraine's security and prosperity have largely been settled. The parties are continuing to negotiate over the territories, he added.
The main stumbling block in the negotiations is Moscow's demand that the Ukrainian army withdraw from the part of Donbas that the Russian army has not captured.
At least six people were killed in Russian strikes today in southeastern Ukraine - three in Zaporizhia region, two in Kherson and one in Dnipropetrovsk region, specifically in the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Krivoy Rog, reported Agence France-Presse.
The agency notes that this happened against the backdrop of a new round of trilateral peace talks expected on Sunday.
Russia has often targeted Zelensky's hometown since the beginning of the war, which broke out almost four years ago.