U.S. President Donald Trump said on Jan. 29 that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed to his request not to strike Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns for a week. "I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week," Trump said during a cabinet meeting, stressing that Ukraine is currently facing extremely cold temperatures. President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Trump and called his remarks “an important statement” on the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during the extreme winter period. He added that Ukrainian and U.S. teams discussed the issue during recent trilateral talks in the United Arab Emirates with Russia. When asked by the Kyiv Independent why Russia would agree to the truce, a Ukrainian source familiar with the matter said: "It's Trump.