Media reports say US President Donald Trump said he had ‘very good telephone call’ with Zelenskyy.
Politico reports that Donald Trump said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to a 30-day ceasefire of attacks on energy infrastructure during a call on Wednesday morning, describing the hour-long conversation as “very good” in a social media post and calling peace talks “very much on track.”
The call came a day after Trump’s lengthy conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who accepted the partial 30-day pause on attacking energy infrastructure but not the broader ceasefire that Ukraine and the U.S. had agreed to a week earlier.
Trump said “much of the discussion” was based on that call with Putin “in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs.”
According to a statement following the phone call from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz, Trump reportedly also suggested that Zelenskyy consider allowing the U.S. to help run its power plants following the war as something akin to a security guarantee,.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the statement said.
CBS News reports that National security adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a joint statement that Mr. Trump “fully briefed” Zelenskyy on the call with Putin, and Mr. Trump and Zelenskyy “agreed to share information closely between their defense staffs as the battlefield situation evolved."
Reuters notes that Zelenskyy, describing his conversation with Trump as “positive, very substantive and frank,” said he had confirmed Kyiv's readiness to halt strikes on Russian infrastructure and to accept an unconditional frontline ceasefire as the U.S. proposed earlier.
The Kremlin reportedly said it had called off planned attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, including by shooting down seven of Russia's own drones heading towards Ukraine. It accused Kyiv of failing to call off its own attacks in what it called an attempt to sabotage the agreement.
Reuters reports that Trump has long promised to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two. But his outreach to Putin has unnerved European allies, who fear it heralds a fundamental shift after 80 years in which defending Europe from Russian expansionism was the core mission of U.S. foreign policy.
Some European leaders said Putin's rejection of Trump's proposed full truce was proof Moscow was not seeking peace. The offer to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities counted for "nothing"
According to letter seen by Reuters, the EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would present a proposal to European leaders in Brussels today to provide Ukraine with 2 million rounds of large-caliber artillery ammunition, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
