Putin agrees in Trump call to pause Ukraine energy attacks but no full ceasefire
BBC State Council correspondent
President Vladimir Putin rejected an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump, agreeing only to stop attacks on energy infrastructure.
The Russian leader refused to sign Trump’s team recently worked with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia for a full-month ceasefire.
He said a full truce can only be held after foreign military aid and intelligence sharing ended, he said. Ukraine’s European allies have rejected this situation before.
Steve Witkoff said U.S. talks on Ukraine will continue on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
During three years of war, Russia recently occupied territory in Ukrainian invaded Kursk region six months ago.
A week ago, the result of Trump-Putin’s call on Tuesday met a retreat from a U.S. stance, although the two leaders did agree that further peace talks would be held immediately in the Middle East.
Last Tuesday, when the U.S. delegation met its Ukrainian counterpart in Jeddah, they convinced Kiev to agree to their “immediate” 30-day ceasefire across land, air and sea.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Helsinki, Finland, made an official visit Tuesday shortly after the call between Trump and Putin, said Ukraine was open to the idea of a truce covering energy infrastructure, but wanted more details first.
Later, he accused Putin of refusing to cease fire after a Russian drone attack.
Ukrainian leaders say the target places are a hospital in Sumi and the power supply in Slovakia.
“Unfortunately, there are already hit songs about civilian infrastructure.
Trump posted on social media earlier that his call with Russian leaders “is very good and productive” and “discussed many elements of a peaceful contract.”
“We agree to immediately stop all energy and infrastructure to understand that we will work quickly to a complete ceasefire and finally end this very terrible war between Russia and Ukraine,” the U.S. president said in the Society of Truth.
Zelensky said last September that Russian bombs destroyed about 80% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Kyiv in turn carried out drones and missiles on oil and gas facilities to penetrate deep into Russian territory.
After talks in Jeddah last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the “ball” was in a Russian court and the Ukrainian accepted Washington’s full ceasefire proposal.
But the White House statement issued by the White House did not mention the deal with Kyiv after Trump-Putin appeals Tuesday.
Instead, the two leaders agreed that “the peace movement will start with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire” and then negotiate on the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace maritime ceasefire.
However, the Kremlin’s statement on the phone pointed out what it said was a “sequence of major issues” in implementing any agreement with Kiev. It said that Ukraine’s foreign support and the end of intelligence were “critical conditions” for Russia.
Trump and Putin agreed to immediately hold technical-level talks on long-term reconciliation, which the Kremlin believes must be “complex, stable and long-term nature.”
But it is not clear whether this means further negotiations between the United States and Russia, or bilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
The Kremlin also said Trump supports Putin’s idea of holding a hockey game between U.S. and Russian players.
Russia freezes hockey games from overseas after the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Kiev may see the result of the highly anticipated call on Tuesday, which is Putin’s time to play, and he adds serious conditions in any reconciliation.
Putin had previously insisted that Russia should control the Ukrainian territory it seized and called for the easing of Western sanctions as part of any final peaceful solution.
The Russian leader has tasted Trump’s willingness to cut off U.S. support for Ukraine and tried to get him to repeat – while throwing the ball back to Kiev.
Earlier this month, the United States temporarily suspended military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine after Trump and Zelensky had a dispute in the Oval Office.
Trump and his vice president JD Vance dressed up Zelensky in front of world media, accusing him of being unhappy with the support of the United States.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin on Tuesday that a limited ceasefire plan was an important first step, but he again called for a complete ceasefire.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said at the same time, British Prime Minister Sir Kyle Starmer spoke with Zelensky after Trump-Putin’s call and “reaffirmed Britain’s firm support”.
