Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed on Wednesday of a limited ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, as American president Donald Trump suggested during an appeal with the head of the besieged country that he considered the American property of Ukraine Power plants to ensure their long -term safety.
Trump told Zelenskyy that the United States could be “very useful to manage these factories with its expertise in electricity and public services”, according to a declaration by the White House by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz who described the call as “fantastic”.
“One of the first stages towards the end of the war could be to put an end to the energy strikes and other civil infrastructure,” said Zelenskyy on social networks after the call about an hour, which came one day after Trump had similar interviews with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I supported this stage and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it.”
Trump suggested that “the American property of these factories could be the best protection for this infrastructure,” said White House officials. The idea was launched even when the Trump administration seeks to finalize an agreement to access the critical minerals of Ukraine as partial reimbursement for American support for Ukraine during the war.
The managers of the White House revealed no details on Trump’s reflection on the potential American participation with the Ukrainian power station.
A few weeks after a disastrous oval office meeting between the two leaders who led Trump to a break in the intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump and Zelenskyy had “a very good conversation” in which they joked, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke subject to anonymity because he was not allowed to comment publicly. The emphasis was placed on how any ceasefire process should be monitored and how the various negotiation teams should still solve the technical problems, the official said.
During the call, Zelenskyy asked for additional patriot defense missile systems. Rubio and Waltz said Trump “agreed to work with him to find what was available, especially in Europe”.
Trump clearly said that the end of the war is an absolute priority for his new administration. He complained several times – the United States has sent to Ukraine more than $ 180 billion in military and economic aid since the start of the war.
Putin told Trump on Tuesday that he would accept not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but refused to support a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump offered. According to the White House.
According to the Kremlin, Putin clearly told Trump that there should be a cessation of foreign military aid and intelligence sharing within the framework of any agreement. But the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that “American intelligence in terms of defense for Ukraine” would continue.
The Kremlin says that Kyiv does not maintain its end of negotiation
Before his call with Trump, Zelenskyy said that the limited commitment of Putin’s ceasefire was “in contradiction with reality” after Russia launched a drone strike dam across Ukraine, including some who hit Ukrainian energy facilities.
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Russia replied by saying that it had interrupted its targeting of Ukraine energy facilities and accused kyiv of attacking Russian equipment near its pipelines.
“Unfortunately, we see that for the moment there is no reciprocity on the part of the kyiv regime,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The White House described Tuesday’s call between Trump and Putin as the first stage of a “movement towards peace” that Washington hopes to include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and, ultimately, a complete and lasting end to fights.
But nothing indicated that Putin is ready to move away from her conditions for a possible peace agreement, which is fiercely opposed by kyiv.
Russia holds the “hostage” ceasefire proposal
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington -based reflection group, said Putin requests during the call with Trump would represent a “Ukrainian capitulation”.
“Putin is trying to hold the hostage of the temporary ceasefire proposal to extract preventive concessions before official negotiations to end the war,” the ISW said in an analysis of the readings of the Trump-Putin call of the White House and the Kremlin.
The White House has also confirmed that technical experts from the United States, Ukraine and Russia would meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss the implementation of the partial ceasefire that Trump and Putin have accepted their call this week.
It was not immediately clear if the United States would meet or separately with Ukrainian and Russian officials. Wednesday, Waltz spoke with his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov to discuss the upcoming talks.
Trade accusations of Ukraine and Russia
Shortly after the call between Trump and Putin on Tuesday, air raid sirens sounded in kyiv, followed by explosions while the residents took refuge.
Despite the efforts to repel the attack, several strikes have struck a civil infrastructure, including two hospitals, a railroad and more than 20 houses, said Zelenskyy. Russian drones have been reported on kyiv, Zytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirohrad, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its soldiers had launched seven drones in electrical installations linked to the military-industrial complex in the southern Mykolavic region in Ukraine, but that it killed them after receiving Putin not to hit the energy infrastructure.
Moscow accused Ukraine of having targeted its energy facilities in the Krasnodar region bordering the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, several hours after the talks in Putin and Trump. The ministry said three drones have targeted oil transfer equipment that feeds the Caspian Pipeline consortium, causing a fire and driving an oil tank losing pressure.
“It is absolutely clear that we are talking about another provocation deliberately concocted by the kyiv regime, aimed at derailing the peace initiatives of the American president,” said the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russia said its air defenses had intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones above the Azov Sea and several Russian regions – the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and neighboring regions of Oryol and Tula.
Zelenskyy said that “the words of a ceasefire” were not sufficient.
“If the Russians do not strike our facilities, we will certainly not hit theirs,” said Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, the two fighters said on Wednesday that they each had 175 prisoners in one of the greatest exchanges of the war.
Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s key condition that Western allies cease to provide military aid and information to Ukraine. He said that it would endanger lives if the citizens were blind to incoming air raids and would lead to the pursuit of the war.
“I do not think that anyone should make concessions in terms of help from Ukraine, but rather, assistance to Ukraine should be increased,” said Zelenskyy. “It will be a signal that Ukraine is ready for the surprises of the Russians.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, principal researcher for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that it was “completely without surprise” that Putin has rejected the ceasefire, adding that it is “reckless for him to say directly to President Trump, because Trump made the end of the war a very high priority”.
“What we have now, in fact, is a competition or a rivalry between kyiv and Moscow to persuade Trump that it is the other side which is responsible for preventing Trump from reaching his goal of putting an end to war,” said Gould Davies.
Zelenskyy said one of the most difficult issues in future negotiations would be the question of territorial concessions.
“For us, the red line is the recognition of Ukrainian territories temporarily occupied as Russian,” he said. “We will not go for that.”
Yehor Konovalov in kyiv, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington and Brian Melley in London contributed to this report.
