Russia hits Ukraine with greater than 100 drones after Trump stated Putin had agreed to pause assaults on cities for per week

Russia launched over 100 drones and one missile at Ukraine overnight, a day after US President Donald Trump announced Moscow had agreed to a week-long pause in attacks on the capital and other cities.

‘On the night of January 30 (from 6:00 pm on January 29), the enemy launched an Iskander-M ballistic missile from Voronezh region, as well as 111 strike drones,’ Ukraine’s air force said.

The governor of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region said late Thursday that Russia had hit a residential building, wounding one person. 

Trump said he ‘personally’ asked Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to halt the strikes due to the cold temperatures and the pause would last a week.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Washington on Thursday, the US President said: ‘It was very nice. A lot of people said, “Don’t waste the call, you’re not going to get that.” And he [Putin] did it,’ Trump added.

He added that the Ukrainians ‘almost didn’t believe it, but they were very happy about it because they are struggling badly’.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested the pause applied only to Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector, and said he was counting on Washington to ensure Russia complied with it.

In a post on social media, Zelensky said the US president had made an ‘important statement’ about ‘the possibility of providing security for Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities during this extreme winter period‘.

Russian forces launched a missile strike on a warehouse building of a civil enterprise in the suburb of Kharkiv

The governor of Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region said late Thursday that Russia had hit a residential building, wounding one person

‘Our teams discussed this in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). We expect the agreements to be implemented,’ he said.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure in recent days have cut power and heating to millions during freezing temperatures.  

Meanwhile, teams negotiating an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine have so far failed to find a compromise on the sticking point of control over Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Zelensky told reporters in remarks made public on Friday.

‘So far, we have been unable to find a compromise on the territorial issue, specifically regarding part of eastern Ukraine,’ Zelensky added.

The Trump administration indicated to Ukraine that any US security guarantees are contingent on Kyiv first agreeing to a peace plan that would see it surrendering territory to Vladimir Putin.

The US is calling on Ukraine to give up the Donbas region, its industrial heartland made up of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump shake hands during their bilateral meeting at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, January 22

The White House also suggested it would promise Kyiv more weaponry to reinforce its peacetime army, but only on the condition that it agrees to withdraw its forces from the parts of the eastern region it still holds, according to the Financial Times.

Zelensky was ready to sign documents on security guarantees and a postwar $800bn ‘prosperity plan’ with the US as early as this month, giving him the upper-hand in future negotiations with the Kremlin.

But the Trump administration is now signalling that any US security assurances depend on reaching an agreement with Moscow beforehand.

Washington is yet to give its final approval to either agreement, despite the fact that Zelensky said the texts of the security guarantees, which he discussed with President Donald Trump at Davos last week, were ‘100 per cent ready’.

Putin has repeatedly demanded that Kyiv make painful territorial concessions to end the war, but Zelensky has consistently said Ukraine would not hand over the Donbas in exchange for peace.

A top Ukrainian official said it was increasingly ambiguous whether Washington would commit to assurances. ‘They stop each time the security guarantees can be signed,’ the official said.

Putin has repeatedly demanded that Kyiv make painful territorial concessions to end the war 

Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine will be ‌’technically’ ready to join the European Union in 2027

After Trump’s meeting with Zelensky in Washington last month, US officials described the NATO-like security guarantees as the ‘platinum standard’, but cautioned the deal ‘would not be on the table forever’.

Zelensky also indicated for the first time that as a ‘compromise’ he would forgo ambitions to join NATO in exchange for strong guarantees.

But Ukraine wants the US to confirm security commitments before it cedes any territory.

This comes as the Ukrainian leader said on Friday that Ukraine will be ‌’technically’ ready to join the European Union in 2027, adding that securing ‘fast ​track’ accession ​to the bloc was an important ⁠part of security guarantees after ​the war with ‍Russia ​ends.

Zelensky said that by the end of 2026 ⁠Ukraine will have implemented the main steps required ⁠for membership.

‘I would like Ukraine to receive a clear timeline,’ he said, adding ‍that his ⁠government was committed to the necessary reforms.