Ukrainian President said the ceasefire on energy infrastructure attack is still in place and has a positive effect
The US, Russia and Ukraine are set to hold the second trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday and Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the three sides have made some progress so far.
“It is a very complex multidirectional process. On some issues, we have certainly come closer, but there are issues where it’s more difficult to find common ground. Unfortunately, there is no alignment there yet,” Peskov said.
He added that the Russian side remains interested in trying to find a settlement to end the fighting in Ukraine.
For now, the fighting continues.
A Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro hit a bus, reportedly killing 15 civilians.
The victims were employed by an energy company that owned the bus.
Local officials say Russia also struck a city in central Ukraine. The state emergency service reported that civilian infrastructure, houses and cars were damaged in the attack.
Meanwhile, temperatures in Kyiv are freezing, dropping to minus seven degrees Fahrenheit.
U.S. President Donald Trump had requested Russia to stop attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Such attacks often leave thousands without heating in their apartments, having to bear frigid temperatures.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the ceasefire on energy infrastructure attack is still in place and has a positive effect.
“There were no attacks targeting infrastructure, and this demonstrates that when the United States has the motivation to genuinely change the situation, the situation can indeed change,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, still needs a break from months of Russian attacks to restore its damaged facilities.
CEO of DTEK Maksym Timchenko said, “So I think that energy ceasefire is extremely important for us to recover quickly and avoid any tragic consequences because of no power supply.”
The work is currently being complicated by bitterly cold temperatures as machinery is coated in frozen layers.
