On January 29, reports emerged of an alleged “energy truce” between Ukraine and Russia. According to those claims, the sides were supposedly to refrain from striking each other’s energy infrastructure, while Ukrainian forces would also halt attacks on Russia’s oil industry facilities.
That same day, US President Donald Trump said that Vladimir Putin had agreed not to strike Kyiv for a week. Trump said he had personally made the request because of severe cold weather and described Putin’s response as welcome.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed a week-long energy truce, but clarified that in Russia’s interpretation the period expires on February 1. In practice, that amounts to roughly three days, even though forecasters say Ukraine’s harshest cold is expected to begin precisely on February 1.
During the night of January 30, Ukraine did not launch strikes on Russian territory, but Russian forces again attacked Ukraine. Alexander Kovalenko, a military and political observer with the Information Resistance group, told Novaya Europe that the main targets were civilian sites in the Zaporizhzhia region and the regional center. He said 111 drones were launched, about 70 of them Shahed 136 attack drones, while Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 80 UAVs.
Kovalenko added that some of the 31 drones not shot down may have been decoys, specifically Gerbera and Parodiya models. Damage to a multi-story residential building has already been confirmed. In addition, a ballistic Iskander-M missile was launched from Russia’s Voronezh region toward Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and was not intercepted. The extent of the damage from that strike remains unknown.
“Everything is very shaky and imprecise. I would say the sides are walking on thin ice,” military analyst and former SBU officer Ivan Stupak said, noting that no formal agreement had been finalized.
Roman Svitan, a military expert and retired Ukrainian Armed Forces colonel, argued that the main purpose of such arrangements may be to prevent damage to Russia’s economy. In his view, talk of halting attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure currently serves more as information cover, since shelling continues and hits have already been recorded on a civilian enterprise and a residential building.
Kovalenko says the informal arrangement will be tested in the coming days as severe cold reaches Ukraine. For now, however, the experts show little confidence in such statements.