Kyiv Freezes, Moscow Remains Silent, Washington Asks

One week. That is all the president of the United States asked for. Seven days of reprieve for a city of millions, while temperatures in Ukraine fall to levels at which power outages are not abstract, but life-threatening. Donald Trump said in the cabinet meeting that he had personally asked Vladimir Putin not to attack Kyiv and other cities for a week. Because of the extreme cold. Putin had agreed, Trump said. There is no confirmation from the Kremlin. The moment this statement is made is not a diplomatic footnote, but a magnifying glass on the state of this war and on the logic by which it is now being negotiated. For months, Russia has deliberately targeted Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. Power, water, heating. The strategy is openly stated: turning winter into a weapon. Ukrainian authorities speak of the systematic use of cold, darkness and exhaustion to break the resistance of the civilian population.

Trump: “Because of the extreme cold, I personally asked President Putin not to shell Kyiv as well as the cities and towns for a week. He agreed to that. And I have to say, that was very nice.” (Whether this will be honored remains to be seen - editorial note)

While Trump speaks in the White House about his request, the attacks continue. In Odesa, a drone hits an industrial facility. In the Zaporizhzhia region, three people are killed, a residential building burns. In Dnipropetrovsk, people are injured, fire crews work through the night. In Kyiv itself, new damage is reported, while the city prepares for temperatures that in some regions are expected to drop to minus thirty degrees. Trump calls the result of his conversation a success. He says many had advised him not to waste the call. Nothing would be achieved. But Putin had agreed, and that was very satisfying. When the conversation took place, from when the alleged pause is supposed to apply, which cities are exactly included and what happens if it is broken all remain unclear. The White House provides no clarifications.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responds cautiously. He thanks Trump for the effort and speaks of the possibility of a brief respite. Power supply is the foundation of life, he writes. At the same time, he warns: Ukrainian intelligence services assume that Russia is assembling forces for another massive air attack. Previous attacks involved hundreds of drones as well as cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. The ongoing strikes undermine any negotiation, Zelenskyy says. Every single strike does so. United Nations figures paint a bleak picture. The past year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022. More than 2,500 people were killed, over 12,000 injured. An increase of more than thirty percent compared to the previous year. Russia strikes far behind the front line, daily, despite international condemnations.

In parallel, talks about a possible end to the war are underway. They are set to continue on Sunday. But even European leaders express doubts about Moscow’s seriousness. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas openly says that Russia is increasing pressure on the civilian population because it is not making military progress. Europe must be fully involved in negotiations, she says, because its own security is at stake. The concern is tangible: that Europe is being talked about without Europe. The US administration’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, nevertheless speaks of progress. People in Ukraine are hopeful, he says, and expect an agreement soon. This hope stands in sharp contrast to reports from regions where sirens wail every night and emergency generators decide over life and death.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies casts additional light on the scale of this war. By spring, the number of killed, wounded and missing soldiers on both sides could reach up to two million. Russia alone is said to have suffered around 1.2 million casualties since 2022, including up to 325,000 dead. For a great power, that would be the highest losses since the Second World War. Ukraine, despite its smaller army, is said to have suffered between 500,000 and 600,000 military casualties, up to 140,000 dead. Russia rejects these figures, calls them unreliable and insists that only its own defense ministry may provide information on losses. That ministry has published no new figures since September 2022. Independent investigations, including by Mediazona and the BBC, have now documented more than 160,000 names of fallen Russian soldiers.

Militarily, the war is deadlocked. Russian troops advance, but at a pace of only a few dozen meters per day. Analysts speak of a pure war of attrition. A war that is not decided, but bled out. In this context, the request for a one-week pause in fire does not look like a humanitarian breakthrough, but like an emergency measure. One week without attacks on Kyiv, while people continue to die in other regions. One week dependent on the goodwill of an aggressor who has so far used every promise tactically. One week that changes nothing about the underlying logic that civilian infrastructure is deliberately destroyed to generate political pressure.

What remains is an image that says more than any diplomatic formula. A president who asks for restraint instead of enforcing it. A war in which even minimal pauses are sold as success. And a population that continues to freeze while its daily life is negotiated.