President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had a productive phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as he furthers his efforts to broker a peace agreement with Russia.
This news comes one day after Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump in a post on Truth Social, noted that the phone call lasted “approximately one hour” and that “Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday” with Putin.
The president affirmed that peace negotiations “are very much on track” and that the White House would issue a fuller statement on the phone call shortly.
Trump’s phone call with Putin lasted almost two hours. The two leaders discussed several issues related to the war in Ukraine. Both leaders agreed to an “immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure” and affirmed their commitments to working toward a “Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War,” according to Trump.
Trump and Putin also discussed the possibility of U.S.-Russia cooperation in the Middle East and highlighted the need to curb the proliferation of strategic weapons. The two leaders agreed that the Iranian regime “should never be in a position to destroy Israel.”
President Trump had tried to convince Putin to agree to a 30-day ceasefire deal, but the Russian president refused to give a definitive answer. Meanwhile, the two sides are still sustaining large numbers of casualties.
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Zelensky also affirmed that his phone call with Trump was “good” and “very productive” a source told ABC News.
The Ukrainian president also agreed to set up a new meeting for the Ukrainian and U.S. delegations as soon as possible. Both sides will start working on this now, the source told ABC News.
At a news conference with Finnish President Alexander Stubb Wednesday, Zelenskyy said just Putin's "words" are not enough to secure an agreement that both Ukraine and Russia will stop hitting energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy said he is preparing a list that Ukraine will share "to our partners" on what facilities and targets will be off-limits to attack in a potential agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
"If the Russians do not strike our facilities, we will certainly not strike theirs," Zelenskyy said.
"Just assurances and only Putin's words that he orders not to strike energy facilities—that is not enough. Why? Because, unfortunately, this war has made us very practical people," Zelenskyy said.
"If we reach such an agreement, there will be a list of sites. We already have a list—a list of civilian, energy, and infrastructure facilities. We will definitely prepare this list and provide it to our partners. If the Russians do not strike our facilities, we will certainly not strike theirs," Zelenskyy added.
The three countries are expected to continue talks as they work through the energy ceasefire. If this agreement holds, then negotiations would likely focus on dividing up territory and extracting concessions from both parties. It’s still early in the process, but if things go according to plan, President Trump has a decent chance of ironing out an end to the war.
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