President Donald Trump spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning, describing the hour-long conversation as “very good” in a social media post and calling peace talks “very much on track.”
The call came a day after Trump’s lengthy conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to a 30-day pause to attacks on energy infrastructure but not the broader ceasefire that Ukraine and the U.S. had agreed to a week earlier.
Trump said “much of the discussion” was based on that call with Putin “in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs.”
The president also suggested that Zelenskyy consider allowing the U.S. to help run its power plants following the war as something akin to a security guarantee, according to a statement following the phone call from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the statement said.
Zelenskyy, in a statement, described the conversation as a “positive, very substantive, and frank conversation.” While noting that Russia did not agree to the broader ceasefire terms Ukraine did last week, Zelenskyy offered a hearty endorsement of the Trump-led peace process.
“We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year,” he said in a statement.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine is ready to engage in the next round of talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia.
Those discussions may focus more on whether the ceasefire can be broadened and turned into an outline for a permanent truce — a conversation, the president and top aides have said,would include Ukraine making territorial concessions to Russia.
Russia’s agreement to the brief halting of attacks on energy infrastructure was accompanied by an intensified aerial assault on several Ukrainian cities Tuesday evening, underscoring just how far off an end to the broader conflict remains.
Putin and Zelenskyy are trying to placate Trump’s desire for negotiations toward a lasting peace, but they remain far apart on their conditions for agreeing to one.
Zelenskyy has chafed at ceding major chunks of occupied territory to Russia permanently and at Russia’s demand that Ukraine hold new elections.
Putin, meanwhile, told Trump on Tuesday that he is seeking an end to all foreign defense aid flowing to Ukraine as part of a broader truce and continues to state that he wants what he sees as the “root causes” of the war addressed — Kremlin shorthand for Ukraine’s alignment with the West and its future NATO ambitions.
But after Trump’s and Vice President JD Vance’s berating of Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last month and his temporary pause of U.S. defense aid, Ukraine — far more dependent on the U.S. than Russia — appears determined to give Trump and his peacemaking efforts the benefit of the doubt.
A senior Ukrainian official, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive call, described it as positive.
“This call was indeed not bad. Trump shared some things from his conversation with Putin, discussed further steps, the work of the teams, and needed to meet again and talk about how everything would work out,” a senior Ukrainian official said, after being granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive call.
“I would not speak about any reactions, would just say that the whole tone of the conversation was that we have to move on,” the official added.
