Ukraine has accepted a partial ceasefire with Russia on Wednesday after a “very good phone call” between President Donald Trump and Ukrain...
Ukraine has accepted a partial ceasefire with Russia on Wednesday after a “very good phone call” between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky.
The call came one day after a similar conversation between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and centered on many of the issues previously discussed in that call. Putin rejected an unconditional ceasefire offered by American and Ukrainian negotiators earlier this month, but did accept an offer to restrict attacks on energy infrastructure in both countries. Further negotiations will be conducted in Saudi Arabia, and will include discussions on potentially expanding the partial ceasefire to include the Black Sea as an intermediate step to a full ceasefire.
“I had a positive, very substantive, and frank conversation with President of the United States Donald Trump,” Zelensky said in a statement posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year.”
Trump also seemed optimistic about the ongoing peace talks, and said that he and Zelenskyy had a “very good phone call”, a far cry from the explosive confrontation between the two leaders last month during a joint press conference in the Oval Office.
“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are very much on track, and I will ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, to give an accurate description of the points discussed.”
Rubio and Waltz put out a joint statement shortly afterward, describing the conversation as “fantastic” and offering up additional details, including Ukrainian requests for additional air defense systems, prisoner exchanges, and the thousands of missing Ukrainian children allegedly abducted and taken into Russia.
Trump and Zelensky also discussed Ukraine’s energy supply, including its nuclear power plants. Trump proposed American investment in and ownership of parts of Ukraine’s grid, apparently following a similar train of thought to the previously proposed minerals deal, which would have created an American economic interest in Ukraine and potentially put America contractors in the way of future Russian aggression.
The risk of killing American civilians or harming American interests could act as a deterrent in lieu of a traditional security guarantee. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the joint statement from Rubio and Waltz read.