President Trump and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin spoke on the phone on Tuesday in Washington calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Trump said the topic includes power plants and “splitting” Ukrainian assets.
The White House's call that it began around 10am in the east lasted more than two hours, Russian state news agency TASS reported, citing the Kremlin. Details were not available immediately.
As long as Russia is doing the same, it was the first known conversation between the two leaders as Ukraine agreed to support a month-long ceasefire supported by the US. Trump has stated his desire to mediate a ceasefire as soon as possible, but Putin appears to be seeking more concessions.
“There are many elements of the final agreement being agreed, but a lot of the rest remains,” Trump wrote Monday about his social media platform, Truth Social. He added that the war “must end now,” and said he is looking forward to his call with Putin.
Before the call, Putin predicted his confidence in his speech to Russian businessmen. He said Western companies that left Russia after the Ukrainian invasion and now want to return will face scrutiny of Russian regulations because of the modest amount.
A ceasefire proposal on the table
A week ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US national security adviser Michael Waltz sat for consultations in Saudi Arabia with a delegation led by Ukrainian President Andri Sibikha and Defense Minister Rasmem Ulov.
After more than eight hours of talks, the US and Ukraine issued a joint statement that Kiev supports the Trump administration's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia, subject to Russia's approval. The US said it will soon resume providing military aid and information to Ukraine. Ukraine has been suspended after the Trump administration's explosive US Flaine conference at the White House.
The US and Ukraine have also agreed to conclude a contract “as soon as possible” to develop Ukraine's important mineral resources.
Russia's attitude
Putin has yet to agree to stop the war that Russia began more than three years ago. He states that the idea of a ceasefire is to “be the right thing and we definitely support it,” but he has set many conditions that can delay or drive the ceasefire insane. That includes the demand that Ukraine mobilize new soldiers, train their troops, and stop importing weapons during periods of suspension of combat.
Putin also said Russia will continue to assert a peace deal that addressed the “cause” of the war. He shows that he will not stop fighting until Ukraine joins NATO and the alliance draws out a pledge to reduce its presence in Central and Eastern Europe.
“I have a question that needs to be discussed. I think we need to talk to our American colleagues and partners,” he said at a press conference on Thursday just before meeting Steve Witkov, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East but also plays a role in peace talks over Ukraine.
On Sunday, Witkov told CNN that the meeting with Putin lasted three to four hours. He refused to share details of their conversation, but he said it worked and both sides “climbed the differences between them.”
The ceasefire proposal could create tension between a widespread victory in Ukraine and Putin's desire for close ties with Trump.
Conversation topics
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov refused to say what topics were on Cole's agenda.
Trump said he hopes to discuss Putin on Sunday night about territorial issues and the fate of Ukrainian power plants. He also said there was already debate about “splitting certain assets.”
“We want to see if we can end that war,” Trump said. “Maybe we can. We can't, but I think we have a very good opportunity.”
Trump did not elaborate on the assets or the meaning of the power plant, but his comments came on the same day as Witkoff, who mentioned “nuclear reactors” in an interview with CBS News.
It seemed to be a reference to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which Russia seized early in the war and still ruled. The 6-reactor factory is the largest in Europe, and its proximity to frontline combat has long raised concerns about the risk of radiation disasters.
However, it was not immediately clear whether the debate about the power plant would focus on Russia giving up on it or find a way to keep it under any ceasefire.
The power plant is located near the Dnipro River in the southern region of Zaporia in Ukraine, where Russia officially annexed, despite Russia's control of only a portion of its territory. To surrender it would mean that Russia will transfer territory that considers itself. It also gives Kiev's forces a foothold in the Russian-controlled area, which is relatively protected from Ukrainian attacks, thanks to the natural barriers of the large Dnipro River.
At the same time, according to energy experts, after three years of war, the nuclear power plant is in poor condition, and it takes a lot of time and investment from Russia to recover the full operation. That could see incentives for Russia to try to exchange it in something else's negotiations, such as relaxing Western sanctions on the Russian economy, experts say.
The state of war
Russia I pushed it Ukrainians Almost completely from the Kursk region of Russia.
Russia I pushed it Ukrainians Almost completely from the Kursk region of Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodimia Zelensky accused Putin of stalling, allowing Russian troops to advance on the battlefield and strengthen their hands at ceasefire meetings.
With the recent push to drive out Ukrainian troops from most of the Russian Kursk region in Moscow, Kiev has taken away a key negotiation tip in potential negotiations.
Kursk's move gives Russia the opportunity to show Trump that he holds battlefield momentum. And battlefield maps and satellite images compiled by both Russian and Western groups show that Russian troops have already crossed from Kursk to the Smie region of Ukraine.
Zelensky accused Russia of preparing to launch a major attack on the Smee region, home to hundreds of thousands of people.
Despite the Kursk set, Kyiv's troops stopped Russian attacks in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine, and began retrieving small patches of the land, according to military analysts and Ukrainian soldiers. But military analysts have been debating whether the Russian brigade is exhausted or reorganised for a new push more than 15 months after the attack.
Recent tensions in the US ukrane
Since taking office, Trump has reorganized America's foreign policy, which appears to be Russia's favor.
He has issued an alarm in Ukraine about whether Trump will tapered the flow of US military aid. Tensions in relations exploded on the public scene on February 28 when Trump and Vice President JD Vance begged Zelensky in an oval office and said he wasn't fully grateful for the US support.
Since then, Ukraine has been trying to smoothen its relationship with the Trump administration, and Zelensky has repeatedly expressed his gratitude for American aid.
Concessions and guarantees
Rubio said Ukraine must make concessions on the land taken by Russia since 2014 as part of an agreement to end the war. However, he also said it was essential in consultations with Moscow that Russia is willing to acknowledge what it is.
Before agreeing to the proposal for a ceasefire, Ukraine had insisted that the ceasefire would include security guarantees, but there was no indication that such guarantees would be provided before the interim ceasefire took effect.
European allies have pledged further support for Kiev. British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer said he will continue to lobby Trump for US security guarantees, a lobbying activity he shares with French President Emmanuel Macron. The UK and France have already committed to donating their troops to peacekeeping forces, and are trying to join other countries in Europe to do the same.
