President Donald Trump announced on January 29, 2026, that he personally convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin to pause missile strikes on Kyiv and surrounding Ukrainian towns for one week due to extreme cold conditions. Speaking during a cabinet meeting, Trump described the initiative as part of his broader effort to bring peace to Ukraine, emphasizing humanitarian considerations in addition to strategic negotiations.

“Because of the cold, extreme cold… I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns,” Trump said, noting that Russia confirmed the temporary cessation of attacks through February 1 as a humanitarian gesture. The pause in hostilities represents an early success in Trump’s pledge to pursue a negotiated end to the Ukraine war within his first 100 days of the administration.

The announcement coincides with U.S.-led diplomacy conducted in Abu Dhabi, where Special Presidential Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff met with five Russian generals last Sunday. “We had five Russian generals last Sunday in Abu Dhabi… and we think we made a lot of progress,” Witkoff reported. These secret talks, coordinated with senior Trump administration officials, reflect a direct approach aimed at reducing hostilities while building the foundation for broader peace negotiations.

Trump framed the one-week ceasefire as a demonstration of the effectiveness of direct engagement and personal diplomacy, highlighting the importance of rapid, results-oriented negotiations during periods of heightened international tension. The move has been interpreted as a strategic effort to protect civilians during harsh winter conditions while maintaining leverage for ongoing discussions regarding a more permanent resolution.

Supporters of the Trump administration praised the initiative as a bold and pragmatic approach to ending the conflict, citing the combination of high-level diplomacy and immediate humanitarian impact. Critics, while cautious, acknowledge that securing even a temporary reduction in hostilities marks a noteworthy development in a war that has caused extensive human suffering and geopolitical instability.

The ceasefire in Kyiv underscores the administration’s focus on leveraging diplomatic channels, both public and confidential, to achieve concrete results. With the Abu Dhabi talks and Trump’s personal engagement with Putin, the early stages of the administration’s peace strategy are already yielding measurable outcomes that could influence the trajectory of the conflict in Ukraine.