The war between Russia and Ukraine continues as countries attempt to mediate and push for an end to the military conflict between the two nations. Kyiv has reported another Russian strike in Kharkiv, hitting a US-owned company despite a supposed ceasefire agreement brokered by Washington.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russian forces struck the warehouses of a US-owned company in Kharkiv. Russian forces also launched Shahed drone strikes in Zaporizhzhia, FPV drones on Kherson, and continued bombardment of Dnipropetrovsk. The heaviest strikes were taking place in Nikopol, and aside from Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv were also being bombarded with drones by Russian forces. ‘Drone strikes in residential areas in cities are also continuing. A ballistic missile was also used against the Kharkiv region – warehouses of ordinary civilian production were damaged, and this is an American company’, said Zelensky.
Warehouse Strikes Spark Fires in Kharkiv
According to Ukrainian emergency services, Russian forces launched a missile strike targeting a warehouse building of a civilian enterprise in a Kharkiv suburb. The strike resulted in a large-scale fire that engulfed over 5,000 square metres, with building structures sustaining significant damage. This comes a few days after Russian forces also struck a passenger train on the Chop-Kharkiv-Barvinkove route on 27 January, resulting in casualties. On 26 January, critical infrastructure facilities were also struck by Russian forces, damaging several settlements and leaving them without power. Two people were injured as a result of the attack.
Communication Errors Between Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington
The Russian strikes on Kharkiv come amid confusion between the two countries and the US. On Washington’s end, President Donald Trump said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to stop strikes on Ukraine, saying that he personally asked Putin to stop striking Ukraine because of the ‘extraordinary cold’. Trump made the remarks during a Cabinet meeting in the White House but did not say when he called Putin, claiming that it was ‘very nice’ that Putin had agreed to his request. ‘A lot of people said, “Don’t waste the call. You’re not going to get that,” and he did it and we’re very happy that they did it’, said Trump.
Yet despite no strikes bombarding Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, Russian forces appeared to launch strikes in every other region of Ukraine. The Russian Defence Ministry said Friday that it hit military targets in Ukraine, including energy facilities that are supposedly used to support the Ukrainian military. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also confirmed Trump’s comments, detailing that Trump had asked Putin to cease striking Ukraine for a week until 1 February ‘in order to create favourable conditions for negotiations’. Peskov did not say whether Putin had agreed, but eventually relented to revealing that Trump did reach out to Putin to make the request.
Prior to Peskov’s comments, Zelensky’s office said there was ‘no official agreement on a ceasefire’ with Russia. ‘There has been no dialogue and no direct agreements on this matter between us and Russia’, Zelensky said. Zelensky also said that Trump’s request to Putin was an initiative by Washington, with Kyiv viewing this as ‘an opportunity rather than an agreement’. Zelensky stressed that Ukraine would support any efforts towards de-escalation, as long as Moscow does not target their energy infrastructure or ‘any other energy assets’.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
