President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia agreed for the first time on Tuesday a limited ceasefire that would cease strikes on energy infrastructure, as long as Ukraine does the same, the Kremlin said in a statement.
But in a two -hour telephone call with President Trump, the Russian chief refused for the moment to accept a wider 30 -day stop in the fights that the American and Ukrainian officials had proposed, which means that the attacks on civilians, the cities and the American ports will continue as the two parties compete for the territory and the top in the negotiations.
However, if the strikes on energy infrastructure by both sides do stop, it would mark the first mutually agreed suspension of attacks in the three -year war, which the White House characterized as a first step towards a wider peace. But in private, some administration officials admitted that Mr. Putin seemed to block, accepting just enough to seem to be engaged in peace talks, while pressing his advantage on the battlefield.
A ceasefire for the energy objectives would not only benefit Ukraine, which has had trouble for years with the repeated attacks of Russia against its energy network. It would also be a relief for the Kremlin: Ukraine has carried out numerous strikes on oil and gas installations deeply in the Russian heart, compromising the most crucial flow of the revenues of the Moscow State.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, from Ukraine, said that he was expecting a phone call from Mr. Trump to discover the details of his discussion with Mr. Putin, but noted that he was open to a truce on the strikes targeting energy infrastructure.
“Russia and Ukraine, by mediation of the United States, can accept not to attack energy infrastructure,” he told the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Susilne on Tuesday evening. “Our team will support this. But it cannot be the case that Russia attacks our energy sector and that we remain silent. We will answer. “
In a subsequent statement, he said that Mr. Putin had “effectively rejected the complete cease-fire proposal” and accused Russia of continuing attacks, including a drone strike at a northeast Sumy hospital. His request could not be confirmed independently.
The American and Russian calls of the call showed the gulf that remains. Putin insisted that sustainable peace depended on a complete cessation of military aid and foreign intelligence in kyiv, the Kremlin said.
Essentially, Mr. Putin demanded the end of all the military support for Ukraine that the United States and its allies provided three years. Mr. Trump and Vice-President JD Vance were very critical of the billions of dollars that the United States spent on war, but the White House made no reference to this part of the discussion in his vaguely written story of the conversation. Europe is committed to even more aid.
The White House also did not describe any discussion on what Russia in the territory could keep after its seizure of around 20% of Ukraine’s land, starting with the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The result of the call seemed to be well below what Mr. Trump hoped in his awareness in Moscow, after several days of declarations to optimistic consonance of the White House that peace was at hand. Despite the public optimism of Mr. Trump, who included a publication of social media filled with exclamation brands, no date has been set for a meeting between the two presidents. There was no declaration of common principles to end the war.
But there were goodwill gestures. Putin said Russia would release 23 seriously injured Ukrainian soldiers and have an exchange of prisoners with Ukraine later this month, made up of 175 prisoners on each side, said the Kremlin.
Negotiations came after a remarkable public violation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky who played directly in the hands of Mr. Putin. The Trump administration temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence in Ukraine earlier this month after a explosive confrontation Between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky in the oval office. Washington restored the flow of help after the American and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia and agreed with a complete 30-day ceasefire proposal. The Trump administration then brought the proposal to Moscow.
Mr. Putin, eager to avoid upsetting the rapid rapprochement of the Kremlin with the White House, said that the idea was “correct” and that Russia supported it in principle. But he made the implementation of known conditions to be unacceptable for Kyiv.
According to the Kremlin, the Russian chief reiterated these concerns during the call on Tuesday. Putin raised the question of “guaranteeing effective control” to implement the ceasefire on a long front, said the Kremlin. The Russian chief also said that Ukraine should suspend the mobilization and the rearmament of the staff, a condition that Ukraine said that it would not accept.
Trump told journalists on Sunday evening that he expected that a large part of the discussion would focus on the territory which would be sold to Russia and the control of nuclear power plants. It seemed to suggest that he wanted to discuss the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which is now occupied by the Russian forces.
But neither the Kremlin nor the White House mentioned discussions on the power plant or the territory that Russia could preserve.
While Washington and Moscow signed up last month in Normalize their diplomatic missionsAfter years of Tit-For-Tat expulsion and closings, and intermediate level officials have had talks about the issue at the end of February. The White House and the Kremlin did not mention the question in their summaries of the call.
In a declaration from the White House and an article separated from Mr. Trump on Truth Social, Washington said that Mr. Putin had agreed to stop strike on “energy and infrastructure”. But the Kremlin, in its declaration, said “energy infrastructure”. It was not clear how the moratorium on energy strikes, if it comes into effect, would be applied.
The Kremlin said that the two leaders also expressed their support for broader normalization of relations between the United States and Russia, and have discussed possible future economic cooperation, including in the energy sector. Trump accepted Mr. Putin’s idea to hold hockey tournaments in their respective countries, in which American and Russian professional players would compete, added the Kremlin.
The avoidance of the Trump administration to discuss details, including any discussion that the two men may have had on land concessions that they would support on Mr. Zelensky to do on behalf of the end of the fighting, can be designed to maintain maximum flexibility in the negotiation room. But this can also reflect the desire to avoid another open confrontation with Mr. Zelensky.
In recent days, senior Ukrainian officials have described three red lines entering the negotiations: kyiv will never officially accept Russian sovereignty in occupied Ukrainian territory, will accept neutral status or accept to reduce the size of its armed forces. Officials also said that they should obtain security guarantees in the context of any regulations. France and Great Britain, among others, proposed to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force or “travel thread”, but the Kremlin rejected the idea. And military officials wonder if such a force is achievable if the United States does not agree to support European efforts in crisis.
Addressing journalists on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said that Ukraine would not recognize occupied territory as Russian “in any case”, adding that it understood “that this is precisely what the Russians need, and this will insist on the terms he knows that Ukraine cannot accept”. Last November, Mr. Zelensky conceded that not all territories could be won by force and should have to remain under de facto Russian control after a regulation.
In its declaration, the White House focused on questions beyond Ukraine, claiming that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin “spoke largely from the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation” and “the need to stop the proliferation of strategic weapons”. The only treaty for limiting remaining nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia expires next February and negotiations on a replacement did not start. In his first mandate, Trump said that he would not enter a new weapon control treaty without China is also on the limits, although Beijing has expressed any interest by widening his arsenal.
For Mr. Trump, a Ukrainian ceasefire is a first step towards a A much broader normalization of relations with RussiaThat he continues even if most of his NATO allies follow the strategy of the last three years: the sanctions and the confinement of Russia, and the aid continues for Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials accused Putin of playing for time in order to maintain the lever effect in negotiations and allow time to bomb Ukrainian cities and villages.
In his declaration, the White House said that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin had agreed to start “technical negotiations” on a wider sea cease-fire in the Black Sea, where Russian ships can barely operate now, and a “full ceasefire and permanent peace”. He said these talks “would immediately start in the Middle East”.
Marc Santora And Constant meheut Reports contributed to Kyiv.
