Zelenskyy says Trump’s weeklong truce isn’t officially agreed, but is an ‘opportunity’ – POLITICO
“This is an initiative of the American side and personally of the president of the United States. We can regard it as an opportunity rather than an agreement. Whether it will work or not, and what exactly will work, I cannot say at this point. There is no ceasefire. There is no official agreement on a ceasefire, as is typically reached during negotiations,” Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday evening.
Zelenskyy said the prospect of such a truce reopened a long-running discussion to de-escalate the war via an agreement that the Kremlin would stop destroying Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and Kyiv would halt attacks on Russian oil depots and refining facilities.
Zelenskyy argued the Russians had not accepted such a deal last year and he sounded skeptical about their sincerity this time.
“At that time, Russia’s responses to such de-escalation steps were negative. We will see how it unfolds now,” he told the reporters.
The immediate signs from the Kremlin were poor, with the Russians suggesting a return to attacks from Sunday, when the weather is set to deteriorate.
“President Trump made a personal request to President Putin to refrain from striking Kyiv for a week, until February 1, in order to create favorable conditions for negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Friday. Feb. 1 is when a wave of freezing weather will return to Ukraine after a few warmer days at the end of January, according to the Ukrainian state meteorological center.
