President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia agreed for the first time Tuesday with a ceased fire that would have stopped the strikes on energy infrastructures, provided that Ukraine does the same, said the Kremlin in a note.
But in a two and a half hours phone call with President Trump, the Russian leader has refused for now to agree on a broader stop of 30 days in the fight that US officials and Ukrainians had proposed, which means that attacks on civilians, cities and Ukrainian ports can continue while the two parts extend for the territory.
However, if the strikes on the energy infrastructure from both sides stop, it would mark the first mutually agreed suspension of attacks in the three -year war, which the White House has characterized as a first step towards a wider peace.
A ceased for the fire for energy objectives would not only be the benefit of Ukraine, who has fought for years with repeated attacks by Russia to its energy network. It would also be a relief for the Kremlin: Ukraine has led large strikes on oil and gas systems in depth in the Russian heart, jeopardizing the flow of most crucial state revenues of Moscow.
The president Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine said he was waiting for a phone call from Mr. Trump to discover the details of his discussion with Mr. Putin, but he noticed that he was open to a respite on strikes aimed at energy infrastructure.
“Russia and Ukraine, through the mediation of the United States, can agree not to attack energy infrastructures,” said the Ukrainian public broadcaster on Tuesday. “Our part will support this.
In Tuesday’s call, Putin insisted that lasting peace depended on a complete termination of foreign military assistance and intelligence in Kyiv, said the Kremlin.
In essence, Putin asked for the end of all military support for Ukraine that the United States and his allies have provided for three years. Mr. Trump and vice -president JD Vance were very critical of the billions of dollars that the United States spent in war, but the White House did not refer to that part of the discussion in his vaguely formulated report of the conversation.
Nor has the White House described any discussion on which territory Russia could retain after its seizure of about 20 percent of the Ukrainian land, starting from the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The result of the call seemed not to live up to what Mr. Trump hoped in his range of action in Moscow, after several days of declarations with an optimistic sound from the White House that peace was at hand.
Putin also said that Russia would release 23 Ukrainian soldiers seriously wounded as a sign of good will and would have carried out an exchange of prisoners with Ukraine at the end of this month, made up of 175 prisoners from all sides, said the Kremlin.
The Trump administration temporarily suspended military and intelligence aid in Ukraine at the beginning of this month after an explosive clash between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky in the oval office. Washington has restored the flow of aid after US officials and Ukrainians met in Saudi Arabia and agreed on a proposal for ceased the 30 -day ceased. The Trump administration then brought the proposal to Moscow.
Putin, eager to avoid upsetting the rapid rapprochement of the Kremlin with the White House, said that the idea was “correct” and that Russia supported it in principle. But he continued to establish known conditions to be unacceptable for Kyiv.
According to the Kremlin, the Russian leader reiterated concerns during Tuesday’s call. Putin raised the question of “guaranteeing effective control” to implement the ceased on a long front, said the Kremlin. The Russian leader has also stated that Ukraine should pause mobilization and reset, a condition that Ukraine has said that it will not accept.
On Sunday evening, Trump told journalists that he expected that most of the discussion would concentrate on the territory that he would be sold to Russia and the control of nuclear power plants. This seemed to suggest that he wanted to discuss the fate of the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which is now occupied by Russian forces. But neither the Kremlin nor the White House mentioned any discussion on the power plant.
Washington and Moscow committed themselves last month to normalize their diplomatic missions, after years of expulsions and boys for Tat and US officials and medium -level Russians, they kept talks on the matter at the end of February. The White House and the Kremlin did not mention the question, however, in their summary of the call.
In a declaration of the White House and a separate post by Trump on Truth Social, Washington said that Putin agreed to cease strikes on “energy and infrastructure”. But the Kremlin, in his declaration, said “Energy Infrastructure”. It was not clear how the moratorium on energy attacks would have been applied if it entered into force.
The Kremlin said that the two leaders also expressed support for a wider normalization in relations between the United States and Russia and discussed the possible future economic cooperation, also in the energy sector. Trump accepted the idea of Mr. Putin to keep hockey tournaments in their respective countries, in which American and Russian professional players would have competed, added the Kremlin.
The avoidance of the Trump Administration to discuss the details, including any discussion that the two men could have had on the terrain concessions that would have pressed Mr. Zelensky to do in the name of the end of the fighting, can be designed to maintain maximum flexibility in the negotiated room. But it can also reflect the desire to avoid another open clash with Mr. Zelensky.
In the last few days, high Ukrainian officials have described three red lines that enter the negotiations: Kyiv will never formally accept Russian sovereignty compared to the occupied Ukrainian territory, will accept neutral status or agree to reduce the size of its armed forces. Officials also claimed to have to obtain security guarantees as part of any agreement. France and Great Britain, among others, have offered to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peace maintenance force or “trip wire”, but the Kremlin rejected the idea. And military officials wonder if this force is feasible if the United States do not agree to support European effort in a crisis.
Speaking with journalists on Saturday, Zelensky said that Ukraine would not recognize the occupied territory as a Russian “in any circumstance”, adding that he understood “that this is precisely what the Russians need, and will insist on terms that knows that Ukraine cannot accept”. Last November, Mr. Zelensky admitted that not the whole territory could be regained by force and may have to remain under Russian control after an agreement.
In its declaration, the White House focused on issues beyond Ukraine, stating that Mr. Trump and Putin “have spoken widely from the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation” and “the need to stop the proliferation of strategic weapons”. The only treaty of limitation of nuclear weapons remaining between the United States and Russia expires next February and negotiations on a replacement have not started. In his first term, Trump said that he would not have also entered a new armament control treaty without China having signed the limits, although Beijing has not expressed his interest as he expands his arsenal.
For Mr. Trump, a ceased the fire of Ukraine is a first step for a wider normalization of relations with Russia, who is pursuing even if most of his NATO allies follow the strategy of the last three years: penalties and containment of Russia and continuous aid for Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials accused Mr. Putin has played in time to maintain the financial leverage in negotiations and allow the time to continue bombing Ukrainian cities and cities.
In his declaration, the White House said that Mr. Trump and Putin had agreed to start “technical negotiations” for a wider ceased the ceased of the Maritime in the Black Sea, where Russian ships can barely operate now, and a “full fire and permanent peace”. He said that those interviews would “immediately started in the Middle East”.
Marc Santora Reports contributed by Kiev.