US President Donald Trump says Russia's Vladimir Putin has agreed not to attack Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, and other cities and towns for a week due to extraordinary cold weather.
Russia has not confirmed any such agreement, but Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Trump's announcement and said he expected Russia to keep its promise.
Trump did not specify when the pause would begin, but temperatures in the Ukrainian capital are due to plummet from Thursday night and reach -24C (-11F) in the next few days.
Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure during the bitter winter, as it has during cold periods since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Speaking at a televised cabinet meeting in Washington DC, the US president said: I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that.
Later on Thursday, in a post on social media, Zelensky said Trump had made an important statement about the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period.
Ukraine has agreed to mirror Moscow's actions, pausing its own attacks on Russian oil refineries in response. The announcement of a potential truce comes in the wake of trilateral talks between Russian, Ukrainian, and US negotiators in the UAE, although there has been no formal confirmation from Russia regarding the pause in their attacks.
As Ukraine struggles with ongoing attacks disrupting power supplies and plunging cities into darkness, both leaders appear to find a glimmer of hope during this harsh winter season.
