KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Wednesday that they’d a constructive name about transferring towards a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, with the White Home suggesting the U.S. may take management of Ukrainian energy crops to make sure their safety.
Trump advised Zelenskyy that the united statescould be “very useful in operating these crops with its electrical energy and utility experience,” in keeping with a White Home assertion from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz that described the decision as “unbelievable.”
Trump added that “American possession of these crops may very well be the perfect safety for that infrastructure.”
Weeks after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between the 2 leaders that led to Trump temporarily pausing intelligence sharing and navy support to Ukraine, Trump and Zelenskyy had “an excellent dialog” by which they joked round, in keeping with a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of he wasn’t approved to remark publicly. There was an emphasis throughout the name on how any ceasefire course of would should be monitored and the way the negotiating groups would nonetheless have to resolve technical points, mentioned the official.
Through the name, Zelenskyy requested extra Patriot protection missile techniques. Rubio and Waltz mentioned Trump “agreed to work with him to search out what was accessible, significantly in Europe.”
Trump has made clear that rapidly ending the struggle is a high precedence for his new administration. He has repeatedly complained about the price — the U.S. has despatched Ukraine greater than $180 billion in navy and financial support because the begin of the struggle.
The decision got here a day after Trump held related talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who agreed to not goal Ukraine’s vitality infrastructure however refused to again a full 30-day ceasefire.
In response to the Kremlin, Putin made clear to Trump that there have to be a halt to international navy aide and intelligence sharing as a part of any deal. However White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday underscored that U.S. “intelligence sharing when it comes to protection for Ukraine” would proceed.
On this mixture of file photographs, President Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, middle, are seen on the Elysee Palace, Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, and President Vladimir Putin, proper, addresses a Expertise Discussion board in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Picture/Aurelien Morissard, left and middle, Pavel Bednyakov, proper)
The Kremlin says Kyiv isn’t upholding its finish of the discount
Previous to his name with Trump, Zelenskyy mentioned Putin’s restricted ceasefire pledge was “very a lot at odds with actuality” following an in a single day barrage of drone strikes throughout the nation.
“Even final evening, after Putin’s dialog with … Trump, when Putin mentioned that he was allegedly giving orders to cease strikes on Ukrainian vitality, there have been 150 drones launched in a single day, together with on vitality services,” Zelenskyy mentioned at a information convention in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
Russia responded by saying it had halted its focusing on of Ukraine’s vitality services and accused Kyiv of attacking gear close to one in every of its pipelines.
“Sadly, we see that for now there is no such thing as a reciprocity on the a part of the Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned.
The White Home described the decision between Trump and Putin as step one in a “motion to peace” that Washington hopes will embrace a maritime ceasefire within the Black Sea and ultimately a full and lasting finish to the combating.
However there was no indication that Putin backed away from his situations for a potential peace deal, that are fiercely opposed by Kyiv.
Russia is holding the ceasefire proposal ‘hostage’
The Institute for the Research of Struggle, a Washington-based suppose tank, mentioned that Putin’s calls for throughout the name with Trump would quantity to “Ukrainian capitulation.”
“Putin is trying to carry the short-term ceasefire proposal hostage so as to extract preemptive concessions forward of formal negotiations to finish the struggle,” the ISW mentioned in an evaluation of readouts from the calls.
Stubb known as the discussions between Putin and Trump a step in the correct path, however Finland’s president mentioned that Russia wants to finish its aggression.
“There are solely two methods to answer the proposal of the president of the US: it’s a sure or a no — no buts, no situations,” Stubb mentioned. “Ukraine accepted a ceasefire with none types of situations. If Russia refuses to agree, we have to improve our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and ratchet up strain on Russia to persuade them to return to the negotiating desk.”
Waltz mentioned on social media that he and his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, agreed Wednesday that their groups would meet quickly in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, “to give attention to implementing and increasing the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia.”
It was not instantly clear who can be a part of the delegations or if Ukrainian officers had been additionally invited to participate within the Saudi Arabia talks.
Ukraine and Russia commerce accusations
Shortly after the decision between Trump and Putin on Tuesday, air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv, adopted by explosions as residents took shelter.
Regardless of efforts to repel the assault, a number of strikes hit civilian infrastructure, together with two hospitals, a railway and greater than 20 homes, Zelenskyy mentioned. Russian drones had been reported over Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, and Cherkasy areas.
The Russian Protection Ministry mentioned its navy had launched seven drones at energy services associated to the military-industrial complicated in Ukraine’s southern Mykolaiv area, however that it shot them down after receiving Putin’s order to not hit vitality infrastructure.
Moscow accused Ukraine of focusing on its vitality facility within the Krasnodar area bordering the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, a number of hours after the Putin and Trump talks. The ministry mentioned that three drones focused oil switch gear that feeds the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, inflicting a hearth and main one oil tank to lose strain.
“It’s completely clear that we’re speaking about yet one more provocation intentionally concocted by the Kyiv regime, geared toward derailing the peace initiatives of the U.S. president,” the ministry mentioned.
Russia mentioned that its air defenses intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones over the Azov Sea and a number of other Russian areas — the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and the close by areas of Oryol and Tula.
Zelenskyy mentioned that “phrases of a ceasefire” weren’t sufficient.
“If the Russians don’t hit our services, we undoubtedly gained’t hit theirs,” Zelenskyy mentioned.
In the meantime, the 2 combatants mentioned Wednesday that they had each swapped 175 prisoners in one of many largest exchanges of the war.
Ukraine’s pink line
Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s key situation that Western allies cease offering navy support and intelligence to Ukraine. He mentioned that doing so would endanger lives if residents had been blind to incoming air raids, and result in the continuation of the struggle.
“I don’t suppose anyone ought to make any concessions when it comes to serving to Ukraine, however reasonably, help to Ukraine needs to be elevated,” Zelenskyy mentioned. “This might be a sign that Ukraine is prepared for any surprises from the Russians.”
Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia on the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research, mentioned that it was “utterly unsurprising” that Putin rejected the ceasefire, including that it’s “imprudent for him to inform President Trump that instantly, since Trump has made ending the struggle a really, very excessive precedence.”
“What we have now now, in impact, is a contest or rivalry between Kyiv and Moscow to influence Trump that it’s the opposite facet that’s liable for stopping Trump from reaching his purpose of ending the struggle,” Gould-Davies mentioned.
Zelenskyy mentioned that one of the tough points in future negotiations can be the problem of territorial concessions.
“For us, the pink line is the popularity of the Ukrainian quickly occupied territories as Russian,” he mentioned. “We won’t go for it.”
___ Yehor Konovalov in Kyiv, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller in Washington, and Brian Melley and Susie Blann in London contributed to this report.
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