Kremlin says Trump asked Putin not to hit Kyiv until Feb. 1

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Donald Trump asked Vladimir Putin to halt Russian strikes on Kyiv until February 1. 

Russian strikes over the course of recent days on Ukraine's energy grid have severely impacted residents of the country, with thousands of people left without power in Kyiv.

Temperatures in Kyiv have often dipped below -10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).

On the other hand, Ukraine and Russia are due to continue peace talks brokered by the US in Abu Dhabi this Sunday.

But those talks may be delayed because of the situation in Iran, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has discussed nuclear safety in Ukraine amid mounting concerns that Russian strikes on the power grid are increasing the risk of a nuclear accident.

Twelve countries said daily attacks on substations and electricity infrastructure were undermining the safe operation of nuclear power plants, warning that the situation was approaching a "very precipice" of a potential accident. The group said a reliable external power supply is essential for cooling systems, even though plants generate electricity themselves.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi echoed the concern, saying damage to substations weakens nuclear safety. Russia’s representative to the IAEA, Mikhail Ulyanov, rejected the assessment, calling it false and saying Ukrainian plants could cope with the attacks.

Ukrainian ambassador Yurii Vitrenko said it was "high time" for the board to address the risks, noting that energy supplies to nuclear facilities have been affected since Russia’s 2022 invasion. A weeks-long IAEA expert mission to Ukrainian substations and power plants is underway and is expected to conclude next month.

The special meeting in Vienna was convened at the request of Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and the United Kingdom. The United States did not join the initiative. 

The Kremlin says Russia has agreed to a request from US President Donald Trump to pause airstrikes on Kyiv until February 1 as bitter winter conditions bite.

Ukraine has said it is ready to reciprocate as Washington presses for a diplomatic path to end the war.

"President Trump did indeed make a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week until February 1 in order to create favourable conditions for negotiations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, confirming that Putin had agreed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to reciprocate, by halting its attacks on Russian refinery infrastructure, adding that this was "an opportunity rather than an agreement."

He said on Friday there was no formal truce, but added that Russia had shifted its attacks toward Ukrainian logistics after days of strikes on roads and railways.

Russia has intensified its strikes on Ukraine's power sector in recent months, throwing Kyiv into darkness and cold amid one of the coldest winters of the past decade.

At its first session this year, the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament, passed a resolution pledging its continued support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full-scale invasion.

According to the resolution marking the fourth anniversary of the start of the war, support for Ukraine is a joint task for the German federal government, the states, and local authorities, and it requires coordinated action at all levels of government. The document states that support for Ukraine must be "continued and, where necessary, strengthened."

The resolution from the Bundesrat called on Russia to "immediately cease all attacks and withdraw from Ukraine." It also condemned the ongoing attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian targets, as well as war crimes, human rights violations, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

Ukraine's national police report having received over 2,000 bomb threat reports nationwide within a three-hour period on Friday.

Between 9:30 a.m. (10:30 a.m. GMT) and 12:10 p.m. (1:10 p.m. GMT), police departments received more than 2,000 bomb threat reports sent to government bodies, businesses, banks, and educational institutions across most Ukrainian regions, according to a national police statement.

Officers have checked about a third of the reports and found no bombs at the locations.

Since Moscow's full-scale invasion nearly four years ago, Ukraine has frequently been the target of Russian cyberwarfare, but such waves of bomb threats are rare. In 2023, Ukraine was hit by a similar wave of bomb threats that targeted schools.

Three months after elections, the incoming Dutch government unveiled its policy plans, wherein it pledged full support for Ukraine.

"The fight in Ukraine is about the security of Europe as a whole," according to a document prepared by the three parties in the coalition led by Prime Minister designate Rob Jetten.

"So we are continuing our own multi-year financial and military support and we will continue to argue for the use of frozen Russian assets," the program said.

After publishing his governing manifesto, Jetten ruled out talks with Russia over the war in Ukraine. He told the AFP that there are currently "no indications" that Russia wants to end the war.

"And as long as the aggression continues, we will continue our support for the Ukrainian people," Jetten stressed.

Over 100 drones and one missile were launched by Russia at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force.

"On the night of January 30 (from 6:00 pm on January 29), the enemy launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile from Voronezh region, as well as 111 strike drones," the air force said.

This attack occurred after US President Donald Trump's announcement on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to his request to stop attacking Ukrainian cities and towns for a week.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X that there were no strikes on energy facilities last night.

Officials reported that the attacks damaged a residential building in the central Zaporizhzhia region and civilian infrastructure in the northern Chernihiv region.

In recent weeks, Russian strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure have left millions without power and heating amid freezing temperatures.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would stop attacking Russian targets as part of a limited ceasefire if Russia stopped striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

"If Russia doesn't fire on our energy facilities, then we won't attack theirs," he told journalists. However, he added that no such assurances had been received from Moscow yet.

Zelenskyy said the proposal for a limited ceasefire came from Washington. He added that there had been no direct contact between Kyiv and Moscow regarding the matter.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Friday that US President Donald Trump had made the appeal to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to halt strikes on Ukrainian cities and towns for a week but did not divulge Putin's response.

Zelenskyy also said that the teams negotiating an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have failed to reach a compromise on control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region.

"So far, we have been unable to find a compromise on the territorial issue, specifically regarding part of eastern Ukraine," he told journalists.

Moscow has long demanded Ukraine cede Donetsk — over two thirds of which is under Russian control — as part of any peace deal.

Zelenskyy said that further talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations, mediated by Washington, were expected to take place on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. However, he added that the date and venue could still change.

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had received a personal request from ⁠his ‍US counterpart, Donald Trump to halt strikes on Kyiv until ⁠February 1 in order to ‌create a favourable environment for ‌peace ⁠negotiations.

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Trump "did indeed make a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week until February 1 in order to create favourable conditions for negotiations." 

Peskov did not reveal when the request was made and did not explicitly confirm if Putin had accepted the request.

During a Cabinet meeting in Washington on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said that he had asked Putin to refrain from striking Ukraine for one week amid the extreme cold weather. 

"I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week, and he agreed to that," Trump said, attributing his request to the "extraordinary cold."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ​has ​said it will reciprocate if Russia forgoes strikes on the country's energy infrastructure amid a period of bitterly cold weather. The Ukrainian weather agency forecasts temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) in the coming days.

The next round ‍of trilateral peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the ​United States were set to take place in Abu Dhabi on ⁠Sunday, ​but Zelenskyy said ‌the date or location could change.

Welcome to DW's coverage of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine on Friday, January 30.

Ukraine is facing its most difficult winter since the invasion began, with massive Russian strikes particularly targeting the country's energy sector.

On Thursday, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas called the situation in the war-torn country "a humanitarian catastrophe."

US President Donald Trump has said Russia's Vladimir Putin "agreed" not to strike the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv for a week with a harsh cold snap forecast.

Stay tuned for more news and analysis.