U.S.-backed talks involving Ukraine and Russia are set to take place next week in Abu Dhabi, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as Ukraine faces plunging temperatures and uncertainty over the future of a fragile energy ceasefire with Moscow.
Zelenskiy said the negotiations would be held on February 4 and 5, following an initial round in late January that failed to produce progress on the key issue of territory. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine cede more land in its eastern regions, a condition Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
“Ukraine is ready for a substantive discussion, and we are interested in ensuring that the outcome brings us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,” Zelenskiy wrote on X, as the country struggles to halt Russian advances on the battlefield.
The talks come as Ukraine endures one of its coldest winters in years, with its energy system badly weakened by months of Russian air strikes. In Kyiv, about 1,000 apartment buildings remained without heating on Sunday, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, after a widespread grid malfunction affected nearly 3,500 high-rise buildings.
Temperatures in the capital hovered around minus 15 degrees Celsius and were forecast to fall below minus 20 on Monday. While officials did not directly link the malfunction to war damage, the blackout, which also spread into neighbouring Moldova, highlighted the vulnerability of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
The Kremlin said two days earlier it had agreed, at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, to halt strikes on energy infrastructure until Sunday, with Kyiv pledging to reciprocate. Ukrainian officials said the suspension was intended to last until the following Friday, leaving the status of the ceasefire unclear.
Despite the pause, Zelenskiy said Russia was continuing air attacks aimed at disrupting logistics and connectivity. In southeastern Ukraine, two people were killed in a drone strike on a residential building in Dnipro, while six were wounded in an attack on a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said.
Energy company DTEK said it had restored electricity to 300,000 households in the southern Odesa region, while grid operator Ukrenergo announced planned outages across the country.
For many Ukrainians, hopes for peace remain cautious. “Talks are talks. We hope for peace, but we still need to fight and secure victory,” said Anatoliy Veresenko, a 65-year-old veteran in Kyiv, reflecting widespread uncertainty as negotiations approach amid the deepening cold.
