Zelenskyy and Putin have agreed to a limited ceasefire, but implementation is underway
Both leaders said on Wednesday an hour-long call with Trump, saying that both leaders had expressed success, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that “technical” talks in Saudi Arabia this weekend will seek to resolve what types of infrastructure will be protected under the agreement.
But it is clear that the tripartites have different views on what the agreement needs, the White House said “energy and infrastructure” would be covered, the Kremlin said the agreement refers to “energy infrastructure” more narrowly, and Serensky said he also likes railways and ports.
“The first step to a complete end to the war could be a strike on energy and other civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy said on social media after a call with Trump. “I support this step and Ukraine confirms that we are ready to implement it.”
According to a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Trump suggested in their phone call that Zelensky should consider granting U.S. ownership of Ukrainian power plants to ensure its long-term safety.
Trump told Zelenskyy that the U.S. could be “very helpful in running these plants with electricity and utility expertise.” According to White House officials, Trump suggested that “U.S. ownership of these plants may be the best protection of the infrastructure.” The idea was raised even if the Trump administration aimed to finalize a deal to acquire Ukraine’s key minerals, which was Ukraine’s support for Ukraine during the war. Zelenskyy said the conversation focused on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe and has been under Russia’s control since the early days of the war. He said Trump proposed the idea of ”a understanding” in which “the United States can restore” plants.
Zelenskyy called the call “reproductive” weeks after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between the two leaders, which led to a temporary suspension of intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine.
During the phone call, Zelenskyy asked other Patriots to defend missile systems. Rubio and Walz said Trump “agree to work with him to find what is available, especially in Europe.”
Putin told Trump on Tuesday that he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but instead refuse to support Trump’s full 30-day ceasefire.
According to the Kremlin, Putin made it clear to Trump that foreign military aid and intelligence sharing must be stopped as part of any transaction. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stressed Wednesday that U.S. intelligence sharing will continue on Ukraine’s defense.
Kremlin says Kyiv has not insisted on the end of bargaining
Zelenskyy said before a call with Trump that Putin’s limited ceasefire promise “contradicts reality” and that Russia carried out overnight drone strikes throughout Ukraine, including some attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities.
Russia responded that it had stopped targeting Ukrainian energy facilities and accused Kief of attacking Russian equipment near one of the pipelines.
“Unfortunately, we see that the Kiev regime has no reciprocity yet,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin.
The White House described Tuesday’s call between Trump and Putin as the first step in a “peace movement.” However, there is no indication that Putin is ready to withdraw from his conditions to implement the expected peace agreement, which Kiev strongly opposed.
Zelenskyy even agreed to the limited ceasefire work that Putin did not conduct peace talks seriously and hoped to extend the war until he was in a stronger position.
Technical experts are about to gather in Saudi Arabia
The White House also confirmed that technologists from the United States, Ukraine and Russia will gather in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss the implementation of a partial ceasefire.
It is unclear whether the United States will meet separately with Ukrainian and Russian officials. Walz spoke with his Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming talks.
Ukraine and Russia trade charges were followed by a sirens of air strikes in Kiev following a call between Trump and Putin on Tuesday, followed by an explosion while residents were asylum.
Zelenskyy said despite efforts to repel the attack, several strikes attacked civilian infrastructure, including two hospitals, a railway and more than 20 houses. Russian drones are reportedly in the Kief, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Chernihiv, Poltava, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its military had launched seven drones on power facilities related to the military industrial complex in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, but it knocked it down after receiving orders from Putin not to penetrate the energy infrastructure.
Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting its energy facilities in the Krasnodar region bordering the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 hours after Putin and Trump talks. The ministry said the three drones were targeted at oil transfer equipment fed to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, causing a fire and causing a tank to lose pressure.
“It’s clear that we are talking about another provocation deliberately concocted by the Kiev regime, aiming to derail the U.S. president’s peace initiative,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
Russia said the air defense intercepted 57 Ukrainian drones in the Azov Sea and several Russian regions – the border provinces of Kursk and Bryansk and the nearby Oriel and Tula areas.
Zelenskyy said the “cease-fire” was not enough.
“If Russians don’t plan on our facilities, we will never hit their facilities,” Zelenskyy said.
Meanwhile, two combatants said Wednesday that they exchanged 175 prisoners in one of the war’s largest exchanges.
The red line of Ukraine
Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s key condition that Western allies stopped providing military aid and intelligence to Ukraine. He said that doing so would be life-threatening if citizens raided access to airstrikes and caused war to continue.
“I don’t think anyone makes any concessions in helping Ukraine, but it should add help to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “This will show that Ukraine is ready to bring any surprises to the Russians.”
Zelenskyy said one of the most difficult issues in future negotiations is the issue of territorial concessions.
“For us, the red line is a recognition of Ukraine’s temporary occupation of territory for the Russians,” he said. “We won’t do it.”
Samya Kullab and Yehor Konovalov of Kyiv; Dasha Litvinova of Tallinn, Estonia; Geir Moulson of Berlin; Aamer Madhani and Zeke Miller of Washington; Brian Melley and Susie Blann of London contributed to the report.
