U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday they had a constructive call about moving toward a partial ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, with the White House suggesting the U.S. could take control of Ukrainian nuclear power plants to ensure their security.
Trump told Zelenskyy that the U.S could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” according to a White House statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz that described the call as “fantastic.”
Trump added that “American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure.” The idea was floated even as the Trump administration looks to finalize an agreement to gain access to Ukraine’s critical minerals as partial repayment for U.S. support for Ukraine during the war.
Weeks after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between the two leaders that led to Trump temporarily pausing intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump and Zelenskyy had “a very good conversation” in which they joked around, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly.
There was an emphasis during the call that any ceasefire process would need to be monitored and discussion about how the negotiating teams would still need to resolve technical issues, the official said.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin say they’ve agreed to an immediate, 30-day ceasefire on energy and infrastructure in Russia’s war with Ukraine, after a lengthy phone call.
During the call, Zelenskyy requested additional Patriot defence missile systems. Rubio and Waltz said Trump “agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe.”
The call came a day after Trump held similar talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who agreed not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump proposed. Zelenskyy signed off on the limited ceasefire deal to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, according to the White House.
That narrowly defined pause appeared in doubt on Wednesday, however, with Moscow saying Ukraine hit an oil depot in southern Russia, while Kyiv said Russia had struck hospitals and homes, and knocked out power to some railways.
Prisoner exchange carried out
Still, Ukraine and Russia announced they had carried out a prisoner exchange, each releasing 175 troops in a deal facilitated by the United Arab Emirates. Moscow said it freed an additional 22 wounded Ukrainians as a goodwill gesture.
Zelenskyy, describing his conversation with Trump as “positive, very substantive and frank,” said he had confirmed Kyiv’s readiness to halt strikes on Russian infrastructure and its commitment to an unconditional ceasefire on the front line as the U.S. proposed earlier.
“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it,” he said on social media.
Earlier, Zelenskyy said the Russian strikes, which he said had been carried out since Trump’s call with Putin, showed that Moscow’s words did not match its actions and that Russia was not ready for peace. He said the U.S. should be in charge of monitoring any ceasefire.
The Kremlin said it had called off planned attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including by shooting down seven of Russia’s own drones heading toward Ukraine. It accused Kyiv of failing to call off its own attacks in what it called an attempt to sabotage the agreement.
‘Putin is playing a game’
Trump has long promised to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since the Second World War, which ignited when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But his outreach to Putin has unnerved European allies, who fear it heralds a fundamental shift after 80 years in which defending Europe from Russian expansionism was the core mission of U.S. foreign policy.
Some European leaders said Putin’s rejection of Trump’s proposed full truce was proof Moscow was not seeking peace. The offer to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities counted for “nothing” and Trump would have to win greater concessions, Germany’s defence minister said.
“Putin is playing a game here and I’m sure that the American president won’t be able to sit and watch for much longer,” Boris Pistorius told German broadcaster ZDF.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would present a proposal to European leaders in Brussels on Thursday to provide Ukraine with 2 million rounds of large-caliber artillery ammunition, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Infrastructure a target on both sides of border
For most of the past three years, Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukraine’s power grid, arguing that civilian infrastructure is a legitimate target because it facilitates Kyiv’s fighting capabilities.
Ukrainians say such attacks have subsided in recent months, with backup power generators that once crowded the streets of Kyiv becoming less prominent since late 2024.
Kyiv has steadily developed the capacity to mount long-range attacks into Russia, frequently using drones to target distant oil and gas sites, which it says provide fuel for Russia’s troops and income to fund the war.
In the attacks overnight, Ukrainian regional authorities said Russian drones damaged two hospitals in the northeastern Sumy region, causing no injuries but forcing the evacuation of patients and staff.
Near Kyiv, a 60-year-old man was injured and airstrikes hit homes and businesses in the Bucha district north of the capital. Attacks had damaged power systems for the railways in Dnipropetrovsk in the south on Wednesday, the railway said.
Authorities in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an oil depot near the village of Kavkazskaya. No one was injured.
