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(CN) — Over the course of a long telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to not attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days but stopped far short of signing up for a full truce.
Trump had hoped that his talk with Putin would yield a comprehensive truce agreement. Still, Washington and Moscow said talks would start immediately in the Middle East on broadening the ceasefire to include a halt on attacks in the Black Sea with the goal of reaching a full ceasefire and peace deal.
On social media, Trump sought to cast his talk with Putin as a major step toward quickly reaching a “complete ceasefire.”
“Many elements of a contract for peace were discussed,” he said. “That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of humanity, get the job done.”
A White House statement said Trump and Putin “agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace” and “stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.”
“The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people,” the statement said.
Reaching a broader agreement will be difficult given Russia’s insistence on Tuesday that it will only stop fighting once “the root causes” of the war are “eliminated.”
For the Kremlin, this means winning a guarantee that Ukraine will not become a NATO member and forcing Kyiv to cede territory Russia has occupied. Moscow also is demanding an end to the West’s supply of weapons to Ukraine and it wants Kyiv to guarantee the protection of Russian speakers inside Ukraine.
In its statement, the Kremlin laid down tough conditions even for broadening the ceasefire, including a demand for Ukraine to stop mobilizing troops and an end to Western supplies of weapons and military intelligence.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine might back the limited ceasefire and stop strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. He said Ukraine would wait to agree to the ceasefire once it gets full details about the talks from Washington.
“After we receive details from the American president, from the American side, we will give our answer, prepare it, and the team will be ready for technical talks,” Zelenskyy said**. **
But at a news conference Tuesday night, Zelenskyy doubted Russia was ready for a full ceasefire because it laid down so many conditions before it could agree to one.
“A lot of what’s been declared publicly by the Russians is that, as I understand it, they are not really ready for a ceasefire,” Zelenskyy said, as reported by Ukrainian state media. “They are not ready even for the first step toward a ceasefire.”
Ukraine agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire last week after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine too has put forward demands that it says must be met before it can accept a peace deal. It continues to say it must be allowed to seek entry into NATO and that Russia must give back all the Ukrainian land it has occupied.
Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s energy facilities and electrical grid since the start of the war and Ukraine has become increasingly successful at striking oil depots and oil refineries deep inside Russia with long-range drones. Ukraine has also attacked a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia under Russian control since early in the war. An energy ceasefire would presumably make such attacks off-limits.
French President Emmanuel Macron and outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed an energy ceasefire as a good starting point. They made their comments during a joint news conference in Berlin.
“The next step must be a complete ceasefire for Ukraine and as quickly as possible,” Scholz said.
The Kremlin also said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to each swap 175 prisoners of war. Putin told Trump that Russia also planned to release 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers “as a gesture of goodwill.”
The White House said the two leaders “agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Russia has huge upside” with “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability.”
In Ukraine, meanwhile, the fighting remained fierce.
On Tuesday night, Ukraine said Russia launched drones, ballistic missiles and guided bombs at targets in Ukraine. Earlier in the day, Russian media reported that Ukrainian troops tried to break into the Russian region of Belgorod and capture Russian villages.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
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