Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia ignored a request from U.S. President Donald Trump and broke an “energy ceasefire.” “The Russians once again disregarded U.S. efforts. The President of the United States asked them to refrain from strikes on the energy sector and critical infrastructure,” he said Tuesday, February 3, at a joint news conference in Kyiv with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
Zelensky noted that Trump had asked Russia’s leadership to refrain from strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for one week. The “energy ceasefire” began overnight January 29, and “last night, in our view, the Russians broke their promise,” he added.
In Zelensky’s view, Russia intends to keep fighting and “waited for the coldest days of this winter, when temperatures in large parts of Ukraine are below minus 20 Celsius.” Overnight on February 3, Russia’s military hit Ukraine with 71 missiles and 450 drones in a massive attack timed to the peak of the cold, he said.
Zelensky said Russia used Trump’s proposal for a short pause in strikes not to support diplomacy, but to stockpile missiles and wait for the coldest days of the year for a large-scale attack. As a result, Ukraine will adjust how its delegation approaches the trilateral talks on February 4–5, he warned.
“Each such strike by Russia confirms that attitudes in Moscow have not changed: they still count on war and the destruction of Ukraine and do not take diplomacy seriously,” he emphasized. Zelensky expressed hope that Ukraine’s partners “will not stay silent.” He said Kyiv needs more munitions, including missiles for Patriot air defense systems.
Zelensky also said he was grateful for Rutte’s visit to Kyiv at such a difficult moment and thanked him for his support. Rutte, in turn, said Western partners are considering three levels of security guarantees. The first is strengthening Ukraine’s military with partners’ help so it can defend against any new Russian attack.
The second level is a “coalition of the resolute,” led by France and the United Kingdom, aimed at providing Ukraine’s armed forces with everything they need, as well as guaranteeing other steps in the event of an attack, Rutte said, without specifying what those steps would be. “And the third level is the United States, which said in the summer it wants to join,” the NATO chief added.
Mark Rutte arrived in Kyiv on the morning of February 3. In addition to talks with Zelensky, he addressed the Verkhovna Rada and honored the memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers at the People’s Memorial of National Memory on Independence Square.
