The British Prime Minister had a telephone conversation with United States President Donald Trump, in which he discussed the situation in Ukraine, in particular Russia's nightly “barbaric attacks” on energy.
This is stated in a message on the British government website.
Starmer noted that “Putin's barbaric attacks on critical infrastructure, including energy systems, were particularly vile as temperatures fell below -20°C.”
The leaders also discussed the transfer to Mauritius of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, where the British-American military base of Diego Garcia is located.
“Referring to Diego Garcia and the agreement reached by the United Kingdom to retain control of the US-UK military base to protect national security, the leaders recognised its strategic importance. The leaders agreed that their governments would continue to work closely to ensure the future operation of the base and would speak again soon,” the government said in a statement.
Trump previously said that Russian President Vladimir Putin “kept his word” about the pause in attacks on Ukrainian energy during the severe frosts. According to him, it lasted “from Sunday to Sunday – and that's a lot.”
Donald Trump's request for a pause in the shelling of Ukraine's energy sector
On January 29, US President Donald Trump said that he had personally asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to halt massive strikes on the Ukrainian capital and other cities for a week due to upcoming negotiations. He also added that the Ukrainians initially did not believe this information, but were happy to hear it.
Then the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the head of the White House, noting that during the trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi on January 23-24, the negotiating teams discussed this possibility.
Already on January 30, the Kremlin announced that the Russian Federation had agreed to temporarily refrain from strikes on Kyiv until February 1 in order to “create favorable conditions for negotiations.”
On the night of February 3, the Russian army attacked a number of regions of Ukraine with drones and missiles. Explosions were reported in Kyiv, Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region, as well as Sumy, Konotop, Dnipro and Zaporizhia. Educational institutions, residential buildings and infrastructure were damaged. DTEK reported that the company's thermal power plants have come under Russian attacks for the ninth time in the past four months.
Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that the Russian troops attacked thermal power plants (TPPs) and thermal power plants (TPPs), which operated exclusively in district heating mode in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro.
As reported by the Air Force, Russian forces used 521 air attack vehicles against Ukraine, including air- and ground-based missiles, as well as strike drones. Ukrainian air defense managed to neutralize 38 Russian missiles and 412 drones.
Zelensky said the strike showed Moscow's unwillingness to negotiate and that the Ukrainian negotiating team would adjust its work. He stressed that the proposal to pause the strikes was a US initiative and came from Trump personally, and Russia “responded with a record ballistics,” even though “less than four days have passed since the week that was agreed.”