U.S. officials are hinting at the possibility of an early in-person meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky following unexpectedly positive peace discussions in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has turned the tables on Russia by cutting power and heating to hundreds of thousands of Russians amid freezing temperatures, mirroring the Kremlin’s previous tactics.
For several weeks, Putin has attempted to use the harsh winter as a means to force Ukrainians into submission. However, now several Russian regions are experiencing power outages in the midst of severe cold.
The worst affected area was Belgorod, the capital of a border region, where temperatures dropped to -16°C. The area suffered its most significant strikes of the conflict, leading to disruptions in power and heating.
Additionally, a mysterious power outage hit Severomorsk, the main Arctic naval base for the Russian Northern Fleet, which is a restricted city.
The peace talks, which spanned two days and involved senior military and security officials from Russia, Ukraine, and the Trump administration, surpassed expectations after Putin dispatched a high-level delegation led by Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of GRU military intelligence.
‘We are very close to a meeting between Putin and Zelensky,’ one US official told Axios.
After two days of talks there was astonishingly a ‘moment that everybody looked almost as they were friends. I had a sense of hope’, said an American source, despite an acknowledgement of remaining gridlock over territory in the eastern Donbas region.
American officials are raising the prospect of an early face to face meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured)
Fire and smoke rise in the city after Russian drone and missile strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 24, 2026
This came as sworn enemies in the Russian and Ukrainian teams sat together for a joint lunch along with the Americans, said the report.
While no breakthroughs have been announced, a US official said ‘everything was discussed.
‘No one was put off by the discussions on either side.
‘We haven’t left any issues out of the discussion and we didn’t have to prod anybody. We saw a lot of respect in the room because they were really looking for solutions.’
The Ukrainian side was led by Zelensky’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, formerly head of Kyiv’s GUR military intelligence.
New meetings are slated for February 1 in Abu Dhabi which could be followed by sessions in Moscow or Kyiv.
‘We think those meetings need to happen before a meeting between the leaders,’ the US official told Axios.
‘We don’t think we are far away from that. If we continue down the current path we will get to that place.’
For weeks, Vladimir Putin (pictured) has sought to weaponise winter freeze Ukrainians into surrender
Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a burning petrol truck following an air attack in Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian strikes killed one person and injured 23 others in Ukraine’s capital and the northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight, authorities said early on January 24, 2026
The Russian engagement suggests Trump has been able behind the scenes to put pressure on Putin to be more positive, despite his relentless strikes on heating and electricity facilities in Ukraine during 2026.
Zelensky called the initial exchanges ‘positive’ and ‘constructive.’
After days of Russian strikes on power and heating facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, Russia faced multiple blackouts with Belgorod and Bryansk border regions badly hit.
In a humiliation to Putin, there were other mysterious blackouts even in the Russian Arctic region Murmansk, including Severomorsk where a major outage hit the main naval base of the Northern Fleet.
Russian officials blamed an unexplained ‘power surge.’
Hundreds of thousands in -21C cold were blacked out in Perm in the Urals – for so far unexplained reasons.
Both Belgorod and Bryansk were hit with suspected HIMARS missile strikes combined with drone attacks.
Ukrainian emergency personnel work to extinguish a fire at the site of an air attack in Kyiv on January 24, 2026
Ukrainian service personnel use a searchlight as they search for drones in the sky over the city during Russian drone and missile strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 24, 2026
Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov admitted his city had suffered the ‘most massive’ strikes of the entire war, paralysing power supplies.
Power was also hit in Azov Sea port Taganrog after a Ukrainian air raid.
The Russians explained power outages in the suburbs of Moscow including Khimki claiming transformers ‘cannot stand the load.’
