Ukraine has no ceasefire agreement and has reached no direct deal with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky said – but Kyiv is ready to observe a reciprocal halt on energy strikes if Moscow stops attacking first.
“This is not an agreement. It is an opportunity,” Zelensky said, speaking to journalists on Thursday. “If Russia does not strike us, we will not strike back.”
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Zelensky stressed that no official ceasefire exists. Any outcome now depends entirely on Moscow.
“If Russia heard the US signal the same way Ukraine did, there may be results – and they can be assessed,” he said.
Talks in Abu Dhabi covered what Zelensky called “the most sensitive issues,” including separate discussions between Ukraine and the United States.
Washington urged both sides to demonstrate restraint, particularly by avoiding long-range strikes, to open space for diplomacy.
Ukraine’s negotiating team consulted directly with Zelensky during the talks. His response was clear: Kyiv will act mirror-like – and only mirror-like.
“If Russia does not strike our energy sector – any of it – we will not strike theirs,” he said, calling it the approach the US mediator was seeking.
Ukraine, he added, supports “all real de-escalation initiatives” and has done so for nearly a year — despite repeated refusals from Moscow.
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Trump claims pause
The comments followed a surprise statement from US President Donald Trump, who said he personally asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to temporarily halt strikes on Kyiv and other cities – and that Putin agreed.
“I asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week. And he agreed,” Trump told a White House cabinet meeting.
Claims of a pause emerged earlier Thursday, when a pro-Kremlin war blogger alleged Russia had ordered a temporary halt to strikes on Kyiv and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure until Feb. 3. Ukrainian war bloggers later reported a parallel order not to strike Russian energy facilities.
Moscow has not confirmed the claims.
Zelensky later thanked Trump for his efforts, but cautioned that only developments on the ground would show whether any pause is real.
“The real situation at our energy facilities and in our cities over these days will show this,” he said.
Previous attempts to halt energy attacks – including a 30-day moratorium negotiated between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in spring 2025 – failed to produce lasting results.
In December 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a similar energy truce, but the Kremlin rejected it, insisting it seeks “stable, guaranteed, long-term peace,” not temporary measures.