WASHINGTON — According to the White House, President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy phone call on Tuesday to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” that it hopes will eventually include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and a complete and permanent end to the fighting.
“Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,” the White House said in a statement. “The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people.”
The White House added negotiations would “begin immediately” on those steps. It was not immediately clear whether Ukraine is on board with the phased ceasefire plan.
Ukrainian officials had proposed a limited ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes and the release of prisoners at their meeting with the U.S delegation in Saudi Arabia this month.
Putin also informed Trump that Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to exchange 175 prisoners of war on Wednesday, and Russia will also hand over 23 severely wounded soldiers to Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
Putin also urged Trump to end foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine as the US seeks to put an end to Russia’s invasion of the country, according to the Kremlin.
The move comes as the White House pushes Russia to accept its 30-day cease-fire proposal aimed at ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian officials agreed to the 30-day ceasefire proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, remains skeptical that Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.
The engagement is just the latest development in dramatically shifting US-Russia relations, as Trump prioritised quickly ending the conflict, even if it meant straining ties with long-time American allies who want Putin to pay for the invasion.
In preparation for the Trump-Putin call, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met last week with Putin in Moscow to discuss the proposal. Rubio had persuaded senior Ukrainian officials during talks in Saudi Arabia to agree to the ceasefire framework.
Putin last week said he agreed in principle with the U.S. proposal, but emphasized that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use a break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilization.
The Russian president has also demanded that Ukraine renounce joining NATO military alliance, sharply cut its army, and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.
The U.S. president said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict.
Trump, who during his campaign pledged to end the war quickly, has at moments boasted of his relationship with Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Zelenskyy of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesperson, told reporters on Tuesday that Trump and Putin will discuss the Ukraine conflict, but that there are also a “large number of questions” about normalising US-Russia relations.
Trump has stated that control over land and power plants will be discussed, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of Russia annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Russia’s bold land grab paved the way for an invasion of its neighbour in 2022.
Witkoff claimed that US and Russian officials had discussed the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, in southern Ukraine.
The plant has been caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the facility shortly after. The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed concern about it, fuelling fears of a nuclear disaster.
The plant is a valuable asset, generating nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity in the year preceding the conflict.
Following a disastrous February 28 White House meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump temporarily suspended some military intelligence sharing and aid to Ukraine. It was restored after the Ukrainians last week approved the Trump administration’s 30-day cease-fire proposal.
Zelenskyy stated in his nightly video address on Monday that he continues to doubt Putin’s readiness for peace.
“Now, almost a week later, it’s clear to everyone in the world — even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years — that it is Putin who continues to drag out this war,” Zelenskyy said.
In his dealings with Zelenskyy and Putin, Trump has frequently focused on who has the most leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy does not, Trump has said repeatedly.
Trump, who has long admired Putin, has also stated that he wants to see the relationship between the United States and Russia return to normal.
The president during his recent contentious meeting with Zelenskyy grumbled that “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me,” a reference to the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in which he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
On Monday, Trump reiterated his belief that Ukraine is in a weak negotiating position. He claimed that Russian forces had “surrounded” Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, bolstering an assertion made by Russian officials that Zelenskyy disputes.
Ukraine’s army stunned Russia in August last year by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of land. But Ukraine’s forces are now in retreat and it has all but lost a valuable bargaining chip, as momentum builds for a ceasefire with Russia.
Zelenskyy has acknowledged that the Ukrainians are on their back foot while disputing Russian claims that his troops are encircled in Kursk.
Trump suggested that he’s taken unspecified action that has kept Russia from slaughtering Ukrainian troops in Kursk.
“They’re surrounded by Russian soldiers, and I believe if it wasn’t for me they wouldn’t be here any longer,” Trump said.
