However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the truce began last Friday, a day after Trump announced he reached a deal with Putin not to bomb Ukraine for a week, as freezing temperatures were coming.
The pause was also supposedly tied to ongoing U.S.-led peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, which resumed Wednesday in Abu Dhabi.
“We await the reaction of America to the Russian strikes,” Zelenskyy said in a Tuesday evening statement. “It was the U.S. proposal to halt strikes on energy during diplomacy and severe winter weather. The president of the United States made the request personally. Russia responded with a record number of ballistic missiles.”
He also called for the U.S. Congress to finally approve new sanctions against Russia.
“The U.S. Congress has long been working on a new sanctions bill, and there must be progress on it. European partners can take decisive steps regarding Russian oil tankers’ earnings for the war. Russia must feel pressure so that it moves in negotiations toward peace,” Zelenskyy said.
Last week, Zelenskyy told journalists in Kyiv there was no formal agreement between Russia and Ukraine, but both sides agreed on the American proposal to pause strikes on each other’s energy facilities during the previous round of talks in Abu Dhabi.