❗️ Speaking at the ceremony, Vladimir Putin said that European countries have deep historical connect with Russia and that he believes “with time our countries will return to normal constructive conversation”

“We are open for mutually beneficial cooperation with all countries without exception”

Tides shifting?

@RussiaWire

Putin was possibly responding to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saying (suddenly) that Russia is a European country and the EU will need to restore balance in relations with it

https://x.com/clashreport/status/2011813044188266866?s=46


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🔴📌Meanwhile, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to land in Moscow tonight. "If both sides want to solve this, we're going to get it solved," Witkoff told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos about the ongoing negotiations on Ukraine with Moscow, Kyiv and European leaders.

Witkoff said that he and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, would head from Moscow directly to Abu Dhabi for meetings with working groups handling specific components of the peace plan, including what he called “military-to-military” aspects and “prosperity”

“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” he said, without elaborating, at a breakfast in Davos organized, according to NYT, by the foundation of a Ukrainian businessman.

Kyiv has previously said that it agreed to “90%” of the proposed peace deal - but insisted that there are issues of territorial concessions and security guarantees that remain unresolved.

Trump is expected to meet Zelensky at Davos

How does Moscow see the "peace process" under Trump?

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special envoy on Ukraine and talks with US, is at Davos as well. Speaking from Geneva, he described talks with US side as “constructive” . Ahead of his meeting with US negotiators Witkoff and Kushner, Kremlin also said Moscow intended to pass “certain information” on a possible settlement of the Ukraine crisis

“More and more people recognize the validity of the Russian position,” Dmitriev said after the meeting.

@RussiaWire

❗️Russian, Ukrainian and US negotiators will hold their first trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi on Friday, a senior Kremlin aide announced after Russian President Vladimir Putin met US President Donald Trump’s envoys in Moscow on Thursday night.

Putin held nearly four hours of discussions with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son‑in‑law Jared Kushner, and Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum. On the Russian side, presidential aide Yury Ushakov and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev took part.

On a conference call with journalists, Ushakov described the talks as “substantive, constructive and extremely candid.”

He said a trilateral security working group, involving Russia, the US and Ukraine, would convene for the first time in Abu Dhabi later on Friday.

The Russian delegation, led by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, head of the GRU military intelligence agency, has received instructions from Putin and will fly to the UAE in the coming hours. Ushakov said the Russian side stressed once again that peace between Moscow and Kiev is impossible “without resolving the territorial issue.”

They added that the sides remain “committed to the political and diplomatic track.”

Ahead of talks in Moscow, Trump met with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of Davos forum. He later told media that he remains optimistic about possible peace between Russia and Ukraine.

“There were times then Putin didn’t want to make a deal, and times when Zelensky didn’t want to make a deal. Now I think they both want to make a deal,” Trump said.

@RussiaWire

❗️🔴 Images emerge from the first trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi

🇷🇺🇺🇦🇺🇸

TASS reported, citing sources, that the talks concluded and that territorial issues are still the most complicated.

"The withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from Donbass is important and various security parameters are being considered regarding this issue," the source stated.

The Russian delegation is headed by Igor Kostyukov, chief of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army. The Ukrainian negotiators are led by National Security and Defense Council Secretary Rustem Umerov.

https://tass.com/politics/2076305

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🔴 Yesterday’s talk in AbuDhabi didn’t yield any immediate results. But what is different from most other engagements so far: there is a relatively well kept silence on the details of the discussions.

Whether this is a sign of seriousness of all the sides, we might come to learn soon.

The Davos forum earlier this week demonstrated the complete confusion in the Western camp. Zelensky’s rage is understandable. But Europe has no muscles left, as the Greenland saga demonstrated.

What’s more important is that Russia continues its attack on Ukraine’s entry systems, and it’s almost impossible to think how people in Kyiv are surviving the coldest winter so far in this nearly 4-year long conflict.

Ukraine, too, continues its attacks on Russian energy sites as well as border areas. However these attacks do not cripple Russia’s economy or infrastructure.

Ukraine needs energy ceasefire the most, but even that won’t be possible without sacrifices. Leave along any potential long-term peace deal (something Russia is insisting on).

To understand Russia’s position, here we will cite a post by pro-Kremlin channel 2majors

“Strikes on Ukraine’s energy system continue. This week it emerged that 600,000 people (out of a population of 3 million) have left the enemy capital because of frequent cuts to electricity, water and heating. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities are clearly exaggerating the scale of the damage (although in some areas the situation really is consistently critical): footage from the ground shows street lighting is still on, while the public outcry is helping Kiev ramp up imports of generators from the EU. An important strike hit a substation linking the Rivne nuclear power plant with Kiev. Nevertheless, the contraction of industrial production and depopulation in Ukraine (which has reduced demand for electricity) are allowing its power system to stay afloat.

The enemy continues to hit economic and energy facilities, while simultaneously pleading for an “energy ceasefire.” This week, a port terminal in the settlement of Volna in Russia’s Krasnodar Region, an oil depot in Penza, and energy infrastructure in the Oryol and Bryansk regions were struck. Last night, the enemy carried out its most massive HIMARS rocket attack yet on Belgorod. There appears to be no single official in charge of countering enemy UAVs in our country, so the fragmented system – split across units belonging to different agencies – will continue to let through a small but vexing share of hostile drones, with the Defense Ministry reporting on downed ones and regional governors reporting on those that reach their targets.”

@RussiaWire

🔴 Trump asks Putin to pause energy strikes for 1 week?

In a major development, Trump claims he personally asked Putin to stop striking Ukraine’s energy infra as millions in Kyiv battle extreme cold without lights & heating

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this . . . extraordinary cold,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting on Thursday. “And he agreed to do that. And I have to tell you, it was very nice.”

This is happening 5 days after talks in Abu Dhabi, details of which are still unknown.

Moscow has not yet reacted to the statement.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov earlier today, commenting on peace talks, said Moscow will only consider real negotiations and not the “public games” - referring to reports that US and Ukraine have agreed on security guarantees for Ukraine once the conflict ends.

The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Washington told Ukraine it must sign on to a peace deal with Russia to get US security guarantees. Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio commented: “… any security guarantees would come into play after the conflict would end.” Moscow said it has no idea what security guarantees between the two were discuss and will not speculate on the ongoing talks.


@RussiaWire

Trump: 'because of extreme cold, I personally asked Prez Putin not to fire on Kiev, and cities and towns for a WEEK'

'He agreed to do that, and it was very nice'

Ukrainians 'were very happy about it, because they are struggling badly'

Moscow Morning
-21C

🔴📌 On Moscow halting #energystrikes agains Ukraine - after Trump's request

As Moscow enjoys heavy snowfall and what is seen here as “proper winter” after quite a longtime, Kyiv is freezing since beginning of this month with over 370 multi-storey building remaining without heating due to Russian strikes on energy infra that, according to Moscow, target those generation sites ensuring the functioning of Ukraine’s military capacities.

On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Moscow will suspend strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities at the request of US President Donald Trump, in order to “create favorable conditions for negotiations.” A new round of talks in Abu Dhabi is scheduled for February 1. It is meant to continue the trilateral security meeting involving delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the US, held there on January 23–24.

“Trump made a personal request to President [Vladimir] Putin to refrain for a week, until February 1, from strikes on Kiev in order to create favorable conditions for talks,” Peskov said. He did not clarify whether this moratorium on strikes is reciprocal on Ukraine’s side.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on his part, said here was not “direct dialogue, no direct agreements on this matter between us and Russia.”. At the same time, he added: “If Russia does not hit our energy facilities, generation or any others, we will not hit their energy facilities. I think this is the answer the mediator of the talks, namely the US, was counting on.”

FT journalist Christopher Miller noted, citing his sources, that the Ukrainian authorities learned of Trump’s request to Russia for a moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure only from Trump’s public statement.

Russia’s acceptance of the new energy-truce proposal is aimed at creating a favorable backdrop for talks with the US, Nikolai Silaev, a leading researcher at the MGIMO Institute for International Studies, told Vedomosti. He suggested that Moscow has met Trump halfway on an issue of relatively low importance for Moscow in order to strengthen its position on more significant questions.

To be sure, this is not the first energy ceasefire declared by Russia in the past year. In the spring of 2025, following talks between Putin and Trump, a unilateral Russian moratorium came into force on March 19 for 30 days. Despite this, Ukraine struck infrastructure belonging to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and the Druzhba oil pipeline. The moratorium was not extended. Moscow also declined to support an “energy truce” proposal put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2025.

Silaev, however, noted at least two differences between the January–February 2026 energy ceasefire and the March–April 2025 moratorium. First, in spring 2025, Russia was being pressed to accept a ceasefire along the line of contact, and the unilateral moratorium on certain strikes served as a way to deflect that pressure. “Now Russia’s negotiating position is more offensive; Moscow’s diplomatic task is to avoid a US return to ‘Biden-style policy,’” the expert says.

At the same time, from November 2025 to January 2026, crews of at least seven ships sailing from Russia reported drone attacks in international waters of the Black Sea off the Turkish coast, Vedomosti report noted. Some of these attacks were later confirmed by Russia’s Defense Ministry, which attributed them to Ukraine. There have also been renewed strikes, including on CPC infrastructure, prompting a protest from Kazakhstan’s Foreign Ministry to its Ukrainian counterpart in early January. Authorities in Russia’s Black Earth (Chernozem) regions have also reported attacks.

In turn, December 2025 and January 2026 saw intensified attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and its ability to supply major cities, particularly the capital, Kiev.

Trump said he made his request to halt strikes in response to a journalist’s question referencing a forecast by the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center of a cold spell in early February with temperatures dropping to minus 27°C. Between 800,000 and 1 million customers in Dnepropetrovsk and the surrounding region were left without power. In Odessa in January 2026, up to 30,000 customers regularly lost electricity and, in part, water and heat. The head of the Kharkov regional administration, Oleg Sinegubov, reported power cuts affecting 80% of customers in Kharkov and the region; in the preceding days he had cited figures of 520,000 customers without electricity.

According to Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Russian government, suggests that, if the moratorium proves to be mutual, it could also serve parallel domestic political and economic purposes. In particular, he believes it could ease the energy situation in Russia’s border regions and allow the lifting of the ban on gasoline exports, especially since the Energy Ministry already made a corresponding proposal in late January 2026.

Silaev notes that, due to the lack of information, it is still difficult to judge whether the objectives of strikes on Ukraine’s energy system have been achieved. “But we can say for sure that the moratorium from January 29 to February 1 hardly ties the military’s hands. In duration, it is comparable to the usual pauses between major attacks,” he concludes.

@RussiaWire