As Vladimir Putin teases a week-long 'ceasefire' in Ukraine, we must remember what he truly is

With freezing winter conditions across Ukraine and temperatures expected to plunge as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in the coming days, Donald Trump told his Cabinet he had “personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this... extraordinary cold” and the Russian dictator had “agreed to that”.

Asked if this was true, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “yes, of course”, but then confusingly said the supposed ceasefire was due to end tomorrow.

Over the past week, Russian forces have attacked energy infrastructure in the cities of Odesa and Kharkiv and elsewhere as part of their long-standing attempts to deny heat, light and running water to the civilian population – described as “weaponising winter” by Ukrainian officials.

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Donald Trump shakes hands with Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Alaska in August last year (Picture: Andrew Harnik) | Getty Images

Trump too willing to believe Putin

So it was understandable that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was sceptical about talk of a temporary ceasefire. There was little sign of it on the ground, with Russian drones and missiles again hitting residential areas on Thursday night and early yesterday morning, although some thought there was less activity than usual.

Talking about his call with Putin, Trump said: “It was very nice. A lot of people said, 'Don't waste the call, you're not going to get that.' And he did it."

The US President deserves credit for trying – any respite for the people of Ukraine would be welcome – but he remains far too willing to believe the Russian dictator and overlook his war crimes and repeated lies.

Putin had thought his full-scale invasion of Ukraine would lead to outright victory within just a few days. Instead, Ukrainian forces have held back his much larger army for nearly four years, while the civilian population has been forced to endure his deliberate targeting of non-combatants.

Perhaps Putin is simply playing mind games in an attempt to break the ‘Blitz Spirit’ of the Ukrainians, as his frustration grows over his inability to win the war.

Certainly, there is nothing “nice” about the murderous Putin who will doubtless use any temporary hiatus to prepare to rain down yet more death and destruction on innocent people as they fight for their lives, their freedom and ours. Slava Ukraini.