US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday that they had a constructive call to head to a partial ceasefire between kyiv and Moscow, the White House suggesting that the United States could take control of Ukrainian nuclear power plants to ensure their safety.
Trump told Zelenskyy that the United States could be “very useful to manage these plants with its expertise in electricity and utility”, ” According to a declaration from the White House The American Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz described the call as “fantastic”.
Trump added that “the American property of these factories could be the best protection for this infrastructure”. The idea was launched even when the Trump administration seeks to finalize an agreement to access the critical minerals of Ukraine as partial reimbursement for American support for Ukraine during the war.
A few weeks after a disastrous oval office meeting between the two leaders who led Trump to a break in the sharing of intelligence and military aid to Ukraine, Trump and Zelenskyy had “a very good conversation” in which they joked, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke under anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
The appeal had to be placed on the appeal that any ceasefire process should be monitored and a discussion on how negotiation teams should still solve the technical problems, the official said.
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they had accepted an immediate 30-day cease-fire on energy and infrastructure in the Russian War with Ukraine after a long telephone call.
During the call, Zelenskyy asked for additional patriot defense missile systems. Rubio and Waltz said Trump “agreed to work with him to find what was available, especially in Europe”.
The call one day came after Trump had similar interviews with the Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who agreed not to target the energy infrastructure of Ukraine but refused to support a full 30-day cease-fire that Trump offered. According to the White House.
This closely defined break, however, appeared in doubt on Wednesday, with Moscow, saying that Ukraine struck oil deposit in southern Russia, while kyiv said that Russia had struck hospitals and houses, and has put power to certain railways.
Exchange of prisoners made
However, Ukraine and Russia have announced that they had made a prisoner exchange, each releasing 175 soldiers in an agreement led by the United Arab Emirates. Moscow said that he had released 22 additional injured Ukrainians as a gesture of goodwill.
Zelenskyy, describing his conversation with Trump as “positive, very substantial and Frank,” said that he confirmed that kyiv’s arrangement to stop strikes on Russian infrastructure and his commitment to an unconditional ceasefire on the front line As the United States proposed earlier.
“One of the first stages towards the end of the war could be to end the energy strikes and other civil infrastructure. I have supported this stage, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it,” he said on social networks.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said that the Russian strikes, which he said had been made since Trump’s call with Putin, showed that Moscow’s words did not correspond to his actions and that Russia was not ready for peace. He said the United States should be responsible for monitoring any ceasefire.
The Kremlin said that it had canceled the attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, in particular by cutting seven of the Russia’s own drones heading to Ukraine. He accused Kyiv of not having canceled his own attacks in what he called an attempt to sabotage the agreement.
‘Poutine plays a game’
Trump has long promised to put an end to the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War, which ignited when Russia launched a large -scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But his awareness of Putin has upset the European allies, who fear that this will announce a fundamental change after 80 years during which the defense of Europe against Russian expansionism was the main mission of American foreign policy.
Some European leaders have said that Putin’s rejection of the full truce proposed by Trump was proof that Moscow was not looking for peace. The offer to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities counted for “nothing” and Trump should win greater concessions, said German defense minister.
“Putin plays a game here and I am sure that the American president will not be able to sit and look longer,” Boris Pistorius told the German broadcaster ZDF.
EU foreign head of foreign policy Kaja Kallas said that she would present a proposal to the European leaders in Brussels on Thursday to provide Ukraine 2 million bullets of large caliber artillery, according to a letter observed by Reuters.
Infrastructure a target on both sides of the border
For most of the last three years, Russia has tirelessly attacked the Ukraine electrical network, arguing that civil infrastructure is a legitimate target because it facilitates kyiv’s combat capacities.
The Ukrainians say that such attacks have decreased in recent months, with generators of emergency electricity who have once cluttered the streets of kyiv becoming less important since the end of 2024.
Kyiv has regularly developed the ability to set up long -term attacks in Russia, frequently using drones to target remote oil and gas sites, which according to him provide fuel to the troops and income from Russia to finance war.
During the day after day attacks, the Ukrainian regional authorities said Russian drones damaged two hospitals in the northeast region of Sumy, causing any injury but forcing the evacuation of patients and staff.
Near kyiv, a 60 -year -old man was injured and the air strikes hit houses and businesses in the Bucha district north of the capital. The attacks had damaged electrical systems for railways in Dnipropetrovsk in the south on Wednesday, the railroad said.
Authorities in the Southern Krasnodar Russian region said that an attack on Ukrainian drones had caused a fire in an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya. No one was injured.
