Putin playing ceasefire card before expiration date — energy expert

Andrii Zakrevskyi, Deputy Director of the Association of Energy and Natural Resources of Ukraine, stated this on Espreso.

"If Putin strikes during peak frosts, nothing will happen to our energy system. That's the whole point, hence the ceasefire. This is all Goebbels-style propaganda - drawing attention to what has already happened. There will be frost on February 1-2, but the sun will shine very brightly. During the day we'll have electricity, and planned power outages will be applied rather than emergency blackout schedules. And then, like now, there will be two days of freezing when wires will fall again. It will be difficult for us, but not as bad as it was. That's why there's talk of a ceasefire - both Trump and Putin are racking up a heap of political points," Andrii Zakrevskyi commented.

According to him, this ceasefire has a very short shelf life - until mid-February, after which the ceasefire won't interest anyone.

"That's why this card is being played - it flew from Putin's table toward Ukraine so that Trump would say: 'Well, he's not such a bad guy after all.' It's Putin who benefits from this ceasefire. To understand this, it's enough to analyze the sources where all this started," Zakrevskyi noted.

• On January 29, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that due to severe frosts in Ukraine, he personally asked Russian dictator Vladimir Putin not to shell Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities for a week, to which Putin allegedly agreed.