US President Donald Trump held what he described as a “very good” one hour phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, one day after having spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelensky later said that he thought that “lasting peace can be made this year” under the direction of Trump.
They also discussed the American property of the Zaporizhzhia power plant, said Zelensky.
The apparently cordial atmosphere of the conversation is in contrast marked with the visit of Zelensky to the White House last month, in which the two leaders – with the American vice -president JD Vance – were involved in a tense exchange.
On Wednesday, on Wednesday, marked the two men spoke from the meeting at the Oval Office-although since then, their teams met in Saudi Arabia and negotiated a cease-fire offered by 30 days.
Although he was supported by Ukraine and the United States, Putin rejected the proposal for a widespread break in the conflict during his telephone call with the American president on Tuesday.
During his conversation with Donald Trump, Zelensky said that he was open to a partial ceasefire involving a stop on the strikes on energy infrastructure, rail and port facilities that could be established quickly-but the Ukrainian president warned that his country would retaliate if Moscow violated the terms of the ceasefire.
“I understand that until we agree (with Russia), until there is a corresponding document even on a partial ceasefire, I think everything will fly,” he said, referring to drones and missiles.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said that the appeal was aimed at aligning Ukraine and Russia “in terms of requests and needs”, adding that cease-fire efforts were on the right track.
Later, in a more detailed statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump had agreed to help Ukraine get in additional air defense systems, especially in Europe.
The two leaders “agreed” to closely share the information between their defense staff as the battlefield situation was evolving, “he said.
Developments will be a relief for Zelensky, who described his conversation with Trump as “positive”, “Frank” and “very substantial”, during an online briefing to journalists on Wednesday.
“We believe that with America, with President Trump, and under the American leadership, a lasting peace can be made this year,” he wrote on X.
During the video call with journalists, Zelensky said he thought that Putin would not accept a full cease-fire while Ukrainian troops remained in the West Russia region after Kyiv launched a surprise attack on the region in August from last year.
Zelensky and Putin said they would accept to stop attacks on energy infrastructure. However, the two have since accused each other of continuous attacks.
Trump said Wednesday’s call with Zelensky lasted about an hour.
“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and their needs,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The Technical teams of Ukraine and the United States should now meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
At the White House last month, Trump told Zelensky that he was not grateful enough for American military and political support, and that he “played with the Second World War”.
The United States then suspended military aid and intelligence with Ukraine, but diplomats were able to improve relations and on March 11, the two parties agreed with a ceasefire.
During his call with Trump on Tuesday, Putin agreed to stop the Russian attacks against the energy infrastructure of Ukraine.
But he said that a complete cease-fire would only work if Ukraine supporters ceased to provide military assistance-a condition that the European allies of kyiv have already rejected.
A few hours later, Ukraine and Russia launched attacks, with Kyiv saying that hospitals had been targeted.
Managers of the Southern Krasnodar Russian region said that an attack on Ukrainian drones had sparked a small fire in an oil deposit.
Despite the strikes, Kyiv and Moscow made an exchange of prisoners on Wednesday. Each side released 175 prisoners of war.
Zelensky described the exchange as “one of the greatest”, adding that Russia included 22 additional “seriously injured” soldiers.
