Trump says Putin ‘kept his word’ over ceasefire after Russia’s ‘most devastating’ strike of winter

Day 1,441.


Today, as Donald Trump claims Vladimir Putin has “kept his word”
by not striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, we report on the
resumption of trilateral peace talks in Abu Dhabi involving the
US, Ukraine, and Russia. We examine whether French President
Emmanuel Macron’s call for Europeans to “restore their own
channels of communication” with Moscow will deliver any tangible
results, and assess whether the recent drop in the price of gold
could weaken Putin’s war economy. And later, we speak to Sir Bill
Browder about Europe’s continued failure to seize and use frozen
Russian state assets to fund Ukraine’s war effort, the
significance of the €90 billion loan agreed in Brussels instead.
Is it enough?


Contributors


Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence).
@DomNicholls on X.


Adélie Pojzman-Pontay (Journalist and Producer). @adeliepjz on X.


With thanks to Sir Bill Browder. @Billbrowder on X.


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Each week, Dom Nicholls and Francis Dearnley answer your
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CONTENT REFERENCED:


The gold bubble has financed Putin’s war machine – but that may
be over (Ambrose Evans Pritchard in The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/03/gold-bubble-financed-vladimir-putins-war-machine-over/


German warships ‘sabotaged by workers’ (The Telegraph):


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/02/03/german-warships-sabotaged-workers-hamburg-port/


For Peace, More Ukrainians Consider the Once Unthinkable:
Surrendering Land


https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/04/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-donbas-region.html


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