Trump says Putin ‘kept his word’ over ceasefire after Russia’s ‘most devastating’ strike of winter
Ukraine: The Latest
Louisa Wells / Francis Dearnley
4.8 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2026
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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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CONTENT REFERENCED:
The gold bubble has financed Putin’s war machine – but that may be over (Ambrose Evans Pritchard in The Telegraph):
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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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Telegraph. |
| 0:09.5 | I'm Dom Nichols, and this is Ukraine the latest. |
| 0:12.8 | Today, as Donald Trump says Putin kept his word about not striking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, |
| 0:18.6 | we report on the trilateral talks that have resumed in |
| 0:21.2 | Abidabi. We ask whether French President Emmanuel Macron's call for Europeans to restore their |
| 0:26.4 | own channels of communication with Russia will actually achieve anything, and if the drop in the |
| 0:31.5 | price of gold will impact Putin's war machine. Plus, we talked as a bill Browder about how Russian frozen assets might yet play a role |
| 0:40.3 | in this war. |
| 0:42.1 | Bravery takes you through the most unimaginable hardships to finally reward you with victory. |
| 0:51.8 | The Russian does not want peace. |
| 0:53.5 | First, we're fighting with our help for the Ukraine |
| 0:57.0 | also our freedom and our European |
| 1:01.0 | Writers. |
| 1:02.0 | If I'm president, I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours. |
| 1:06.0 | We are with you, not just today or tomorrow, but for a hundred years. |
| 1:11.3 | We can't as European let's gain the Russia in Ukraine. |
| 1:15.9 | Nobody's going to break us. |
| 1:17.9 | We're strong. |
| 1:19.1 | We're Ukraine is. |
| 1:21.8 | It's Wednesday, the 4th of February, three years and 347 days since the full-scale invasion |
| 1:26.9 | began. |
| 1:29.4 | And today, I'm joined by my co-host, |
... |
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