Trump: Putin agreed to a seven-day pause in attacks on Kiev due to cold weather

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had agreed to refrain from attacking Kiev and other Ukrainian cities for seven days because of the cold winter weather, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he thanked Washington for the initiative, which he described as a halt to Russian strikes on energy targets, after which hundreds of apartments in Kiev were left without electricity during the freezing days.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow, which had earlier extended a new invitation to Zelensky to hold talks in Moscow — an offer the Ukrainian leader had long rejected.

"We asked President Putin if they could stop the shooting for a week," Trump told reporters at an Oval Office event.

"They are affected, proportionally, by the same kind of cold as we are. It's usually colder in Ukraine, but it's really cold now. He agreed to that. We really appreciated that."

Emergency services continued to restore heating and electricity in Kiev, which were cut off after Russian air strikes last Saturday.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 454 apartment buildings were still without heating, while nighttime temperatures dropped to -10 degrees Celsius on Friday, and are expected to drop even lower next week.

"We expect the agreements to be implemented," Zelensky wrote on the social network X. "Steps towards de-escalation contribute to real progress towards ending the war."

Speaking later in his nightly video address, Zelensky thanked the United States "for its efforts to ensure the cessation of strikes on energy (targets) at this time, and we hope that America will succeed in this."

"We will see what the real situation will be with our energy facilities and cities in the coming days and nights," he said.

The United States has been engaged in diplomatic activities for months to secure an agreement to end the nearly four-year war, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, according to Reuters.

Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US held unusual trilateral contacts last weekend in the United Arab Emirates.

Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday that Russia and Ukraine are discussing the territory issue and described the talks as making progress. He said agreements on security guarantees and post-war recovery were almost complete.

Ukraine is resisting Russian demands to cede the entire eastern region of Donbas, including areas that the Russian military has failed to capture.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said he did not consider the territorial issue the only key remaining problem.

Witkoff said the talks would continue in about a week, although the next meeting was scheduled for Sunday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed doubts about the viability of any security guarantees Washington might offer Ukraine as part of the deal. He also expressed doubt that they could lead to lasting peace if they were designed to keep Ukraine's current political leadership in power.