Ukraine’s Weaponized Winter

Russian President Vladimir Putin has brushed off yet another phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump and continued strikes against Ukraine.

• After his forces targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure over the last few weeks, thousands were left without power and heat during the coldest winter in more than a decade.
• “I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and the various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that, and I have to tell you it was very nice,” Trump said on Thursday after calling Putin.
• Russia paused strikes that night and agreed to cease strikes on the capital, Kyiv, until February 1, rather than for a week. It continued to strike other cities, such as Kharikiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

On Sunday, a Russian drone struck a coal mine in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing 12 miners. According to dtek, one coal mine in the same region suffered two attacks within a 24-hour period.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday the situation in Kyiv is still “extremely difficult,” with more than 500 apartment buildings without heat as temperatures drop to as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Russia has sustained 1.2 million casualties of its own in its war against Ukraine and has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, yet it is showing no sign of slowing down. For more on why Donald Trump’s outreaches to Putin have failed, read our article “The Roadblock to Peace.”