Shafaq News– Washington

US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed not to fire on Kyiv for a week, citing cold weather.

“I personally asked President Putin not to fire into Kyiv and various towns for a week, and he agreed to do that,” Trump stated at a Cabinet meeting.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, renewed its invitation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to visit Moscow for peace talks, as international efforts intensify to reach an agreement to end the war, which started in February 2022. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said that territorial issues are not the only obstacle hindering a potential deal to halt the fighting in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine noted that they have carried out their latest exchange of the bodies of soldiers killed in the war. In separate statements, Moscow and Kyiv said Russia handed over the remains of 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine, while Kremlin adviser Vladimir Medinsky affirmed that Kyiv, in return, transferred the bodies of 38 Russian soldiers to Moscow.

Both sides concluded a new round of direct talks in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, marking a second set of discussions involving Washington as the sponsoring party.