Russians ignore Trump's request for energy truce and strike with doubled force, says Zelensky

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russians ignored the US request and broke the energy truce. He stressed that the enemy had been gathering strength for a strike over the past few days.

The president announced this during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Kyiv, according to a Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Russians have once again ignored the efforts of the American side. The President of the United States requested that they refrain from attacks on energy facilities and critical infrastructure. You are aware of this. During the meeting of our negotiating teams, the American president also said that attacks should be refrained from for a week. This was an important decision. In fact, it [the energy truce] began on Friday night, and tonight, in our opinion, the Russians broke their promise," Zelensky said.

He noted that the agreement was to stop attacks on energy facilities for a week, but Russia did not fulfill its promise. "Either Russia now believes that a week is less than four days, instead of seven, or they are really betting on war and simply waiting for the coldest days of this winter, when temperatures in a significant part of Ukraine are below minus 20 degrees Celsius. Today was a record Russian strike, a powerful strike, certainly involving the use of ballistics," the president said.

He emphasized that the Russians struck with 71 missiles and 450 drones. "If you look at the strike package that Russia wanted to use at the moment when the negotiations in Abu Dhabi ended, there was actually less. What did they do? They postponed the strike, increased the number of missiles and drones, and struck on the coldest days. So I would not say that anyone gave us a gift," the president emphasized.

He added that the energy truce was not a gift to Ukraine. “They struck with, in fact, one and a half times more missiles and drones than they could have at that moment,” Zelensky explained.

He assured that he would contact the American side regarding this shelling. “I expect that our partners will not remain silent about what is happening. It is critical for everyone to continue to support the defense of our country and the protection of our people," Zelensky said.

As reported by Ukrinform, on the night of February 3, the Russian army launched strikes with several types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones on eight regions of Ukraine. Among the targets were energy facilities.