Donald Trump and Volodimia Zelensky made a “very good call” on Wednesday, in their first conversation with the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart since the tragic showdown at the White House three weeks ago.
Zelenskyy described the call as “positive, very substantial and straightforward,” saying that Trump had signed up for a partial ceasefire that he agreed to with Vladimir Putin a day ago. The White House said Trump has pledged to support Ukraine's demand to procure more air defense batteries for Kiev.
Trump and Zelensky's final encounter ended with an exchange of angry words between the two presidents and the US vice president J.D. Vance. It marked a low point in US-Ukraine relations and surprised other allies that Washington may be trying to abandon Kiev.
Since then, Zelenskyy has wanted to get his relationship with Trump back on track. He thanked Trump multiple times for reading his phone Wednesday, saying he signed a ceasefire plan.
“We have instructed the team to resolve technical issues related to the implementation and expansion of partial ceasefires,” Zelenskyy wrote to Telegram after the call.
Previously, Ukrainian and US negotiating teams agreed to a full ceasefire, but Putin declined and suggested instead suspending mutual strikes over energy infrastructure and a ceasefire in the Black Sea.
Trump posted to The Truth Society and described his speech with Zelensky as a “very good phone call” that lasted about an hour. “Most of the discussion was based on a call yesterday with President Putin to coordinate both Russia and Ukraine in terms of demand and needs. We are on very well,” he wrote.
Ukrainian officials say they believe that ties with the Trump administration are now on a healthy footing.
“It was a rather emotional conversation in an oval office, indicating that the inconsistencies had accumulated,” said Zelensky's aide Mikhailo Podraic in an interview in Kiev on Wednesday. However, he argued that the two regimes had quickly “found a synchronized position,” as demonstrated in the Saudi Arabia agreement.
Nevertheless, much of the White House's much of the rhetoric continues to warn Kiev's European allies. On Wednesday, Trump negotiating envoy Steve Witkoff described the call between Trump and Putin as “two great leaders gathering for the improvement of humanity.”
Podreik said he is “relaxed” about the Trump administration's strategy of “soft communication” with Russia. “They believe that this soft rhetoric, a lot of personal connections, allows them to find a level of trust. When I put the words 'trust' and 'Russia' together, it looks fantastic to me,” he said.
The contract for access to Ukraine's mineral wealth is still waiting to be signed, and on Wednesday Trump also suggested that the US could take over the Ukrainian power plant, according to the reading. “American ownership of these plants will be the best protection for its infrastructure and support for Ukraine's energy infrastructure,” a statement from the White House said. It was not immediately clear how Zelenskyy responded to the proposal.
As Moscow and Washington had very different readings in the aftermath, there was some confusion about what was said exactly about the call between Trump and Putin.
In his first post on the True Society, Trump said that the partial ceasefire applied to “energy and infrastructure,” giving the impression that it extends to all private infrastructure. Zelensky spoke about the “end of a strike on energy and other private infrastructure” after his call with Trump.
However, Vladimir Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that the ceasefire will only apply to the energy sector, with a statement from the White House on Wednesday mentioning energy alone, making details about the ceasefire unclear.
Furthermore, in a statement, the Kremlin said the requirements for serious peace negotiations are “a complete suspension of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence news to Kiev.”
Trump denied that this had appeared, speaking about Fox News. “No, we didn't talk about aid. In fact, we didn't talk about aid at all. We talked about a lot, but the aid was not discussed,” he said.
However, when speaking to a Moscow reporter, Peskov directly contradicted Trump. “The need to stop the supply of arms to Kiev was debated during the conversation between Putin and Trump,” he said. The suspension of military aid “is high on the agenda in negotiations between Russia and the US, but this topic will not be publicly discussed,” Peskov added.
Ukrainian officials have rejected the demand as unrealistic.
“Of course, that's a very strange request,” Podolyak said. “He wants Ukraine to abandon its troops, waive its security guarantees, waive its right to join the alliance, and give up on various territories. This is what he has fought for three years and has not been able to do it military-wise… And now that's what he wants from the negotiation process,” he added.
There is no sign that Putin has abandoned any of his most hardest purposes in the war in Ukraine. Kommersant, a well-connected Russian newspaper, reported on Wednesday at a meeting of senior business leaders on Tuesday that Putin intends to continue the fight until he has full control over the four regions that Moscow annexed in 2022.
