On February 3, speaking in Washington, President Donald Trump made direct assessments of the war situation in Ukraine last week. He especially emphasized the significance of the Russian military temporarily suspending airstrikes targeting the capital Kiev for 7 consecutive days.
A week is a very significant amount of time, you know," Mr. Trump shared with the press. The US leader also expressed concern about the humanitarian aspect in the harsh winter context in Eastern Europe: "We appreciate any concession, because the weather there is actually very cold. The ceasefire took place entirely from last Sunday to this Sunday.
Mr. Trump's statement is an official confirmation of previous speculations about a "secret deal" between the two superpowers.
Last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed noteworthy information: President Trump sent a "personal petition" to President Vladimir Putin. The White House owner asked Moscow to exercise restraint and not attack Kiev until February 1 to "facilitate negotiation efforts".
At that time, the Russian side did not publicly answer. However, the reality of the battlefield in recent days is the clearest proof: President Putin has accepted and properly implemented Mr. Trump's proposal. This move shows that the direct communication channel between the two leaders is operating effectively, completely different from the icy atmosphere of previous terms.
However, this "moment of silence" is very fragile and ended as soon as the commitment period passed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense on February 3 announced that the country's army had resumed large-scale attacks overnight. The targets are a series of key defense industrial facilities and energy infrastructure of Ukraine.
Moscow declared this fierce attack as an "appropriate response" to what they called Kiev's "terrorist attacks" targeting civilian facilities on Russian territory that occurred earlier.
The resumption of hostilities immediately after the "ceasefire" week shows that, although Mr. Trump may intervene to temporarily cool down, the core conflicts of the conflict have not yet been resolved, and both sides are still ready to escalate when necessary.
