President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia agreed on Tuesday during a phone call with President Trump to temporarily halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, according to the Kremlin.
That fell short of the unconditional 30-day cease-fire that Ukraine had already agreed to, at the urging of the Trump administration.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that the two leaders spoke for more than two hours. It was their first known conversation since Ukraine agreed to support a U.S.-backed monthlong cease-fire, as long as Russia does the same. While Mr. Trump has stated his desire to broker a truce as quickly as possible, Mr. Putin has seemed to be seeking more concessions.
Tuesday evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said President Putin had “effectively rejected the proposal for a full cease-fire” backed by the U.S. and Ukraine.
Mr. Putin made “a number of significant points” about the 30-day cease-fire proposal in the call, according to Tass. That included reiterating to Mr. Trump that a complete cessation of military aid to Kyiv is the key condition for solving the conflict, Tass added.
The cease-fire proposal on the table
A week ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia with a delegation led by Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
The United States and Ukraine also agreed to conclude “as soon as possible” a deal to develop Ukraine’s critical mineral resources.
Russia’s stance
Before his call with Mr. Trump, the Russian leader had said the idea for a cease-fire was “the right one and we definitely support it” — but laid out numerous conditions that could delay or derail any truce. That included demands that Ukraine cease mobilizing new soldiers, training troops or importing weapons for the duration of any pause in fighting.
Ukrainian officials have dismissed Mr. Putin’s stance as a cynical ploy to use a pause in fighting to strengthen Russian forces, while preventing Ukraine from doing the same.
While the Russian description of Tuesday’s two-hour conversation said that Mr. Putin reiterated to Mr. Trump that a complete cessation of military aid to Kyiv is the key condition for ending the conflict, the White House made no mention of that demand, or any discussions over what territory Russia might retain after its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its seizure of about 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory.
Conversation topics
Mr. Trump had said on Sunday night that he expected to discuss territorial issues with Mr. Putin as well as the fate of Ukrainian power plants. He also noted that there had already been discussions about “dividing up certain assets.”
“We want to see if we can bring that war to an end,” Mr. Trump said. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”
Mr. Trump did not elaborate on what he meant by assets or power plants, but his comments came on the same day Mr. Witkoff mentioned a “nuclear reactor” in an interview with CBS News.
That appeared be a reference to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which Russia seized early in the war and still controls. The six-reactor plant is Europe’s largest, and its proximity to frontline fighting has long raised concerns about the risk of a radiological disaster.
It was not immediately clear, though, whether discussion about the power plant would focus on Russia giving it up — or finding a way to keep it under any truce.
The power plant sits near the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia has declared it annexed, despite controlling only part of its territory. Surrendering the plant to Ukraine would mean ceding territory Russia considers its own. It would also give Kyiv’s troops a foothold in a Russian-controlled area that has been relatively protected from Ukrainian attacks thanks to the natural barrier of the large Dnipro River.
At the same time, energy experts say, the nuclear plant is in poor condition after three years of war and restoring full operations would require a lot of time and investment from Russia. That could mean Russia might see an incentive to try trading it in negotiations for something else, such as the easing of Western sanctions on the Russian economy, experts say.
State of the war
Mr. Zelensky has accused Mr. Putin of stalling so that Russia’s army can advance on the battlefield and strengthen his hand in cease-fire talks.
Moscow’s push to drive out Ukrainian troops from most of the Kursk region of Russia in recent days has deprived Kyiv of an important bargaining chip in any potential negotiations.
The moves in Kursk give Russia an opportunity to show Mr. Trump that it holds the momentum on the battlefield. And battlefield maps compiled by both Russian and Western groups analyzing combat footage and satellite images show that Russian forces have already crossed into Ukraine’s Sumy region from Kursk, in what analysts say may be an effort to flank and encircle the remaining Ukrainian troops in Kursk or open a new front in the war.
Mr. Zelensky has accused Russia to preparing to mount a larger offensive into the Sumy region, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people.
Despite the setbacks in Kursk, Kyiv’s forces have stalled a Russian offensive in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine and started to win back small patches of land, according to military analysts and Ukrainian soldiers. Military analysts, however, have been debating whether, after more than 15 months on the offensive, Russian brigades are exhausted or are regrouping for a renewed push.
Recent U.S.-Ukraine tensions
Since taking office, Mr. Trump has realigned American foreign policy seemingly in Russia’s favor — including by echoing a Kremlin talking point that blamed Kyiv for starting the war.
That raised alarm in Ukraine about whether Mr. Trump would taper the flow of U.S. military assistance. Strain in the relationship burst into public view on Feb. 28, when Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Mr. Zelensky in the Oval Office, saying he was not grateful enough for U.S. support.
Since then, Ukraine has sought to smooth over relations with the Trump administration, and Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly expressed gratitude for American assistance.
Concessions and guarantees
Mr. Rubio has said that Ukraine would have to make concessions over land that Russia had taken since 2014 as part of any agreement to end the war. But he also said that it would be imperative in talks with Moscow to determine what Russia was willing to concede.
Before agreeing to the U.S.-backed proposal for an unconditional cease-fire, Ukraine had insisted that any cease-fire include security guarantees, but there has been no indication since that any such guarantees would be provided before any interim cease-fire would take effect.
European allies have pledged further support to Kyiv. Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain has said he would continue pressing Mr. Trump for American security guarantees — a lobbying effort that he shares with President Emmanuel Macron of France. Britain and France have already pledged to contribute troops to a peacekeeping force and are trying to enlist other countries across Europe to do the same.
