Trump and Putin seek ceasefire against Ukraine energy and infrastructure targets

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a call on Tuesday to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the White House.

The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” it hopes will eventually include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and a full and lasting end to the fighting.

“Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,” the White House said in a statement.

“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 White House said negotiations would “begin immediately” on those steps.

It was not immediately clear whether Ukraine is on board with the phased ceasefire plan.

Ukrainian officials had proposed a limited ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes and the release of prisoners at their meeting with the US delegation in Saudi Arabia this month.

Mr Putin also told Mr Trump that Russia and Ukraine will exchange 175 prisoners of war each on Wednesday, and Russia will also hand over to Ukraine 23 badly wounded soldiers, the Kremlin said.

Mr Putin also called on Mr Trump to end foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

The phone call came as the White House pushes for Russia to sign off on its 30-day ceasefire proposal to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Trump said before the call that he expected to discuss with Mr Putin land and power plants that have been seized during the three-year war.

Ukrainian officials last week agreed to the American proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains sceptical that Mr Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.

The engagement is just the latest turn in dramatically shifting US-Russia relations, as Mr Trump made quickly ending the conflict a top priority, even at the expense of straining ties with longtime American allies who want Mr Putin to pay a price for the invasion.

“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Mr Trump told reporters on Monday.

“What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”

In preparation for the Trump-Putin call, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff last week met Mr Putin in Moscow to discuss the proposal.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio had persuaded senior Ukrainian officials during talks in Saudi Arabia to agree to the ceasefire framework.

Mr Putin last week said he agreed in principle with the US proposal, but emphasised that Russia would seek guarantees that Ukraine would not use a break in hostilities to rearm and continue mobilisation.

He has also demanded that Ukraine renounce joining the Nato military alliance, sharply cut its army, and protect Russian language and culture to keep the country in Moscow’s orbit.

The US president said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict.

Mr Trump, who during his campaign pledged to quickly end the war, has at moments boasted of his relationship with Mr Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Mr Zelensky of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since the Second World War.

Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Mr Trump and Mr Putin would discuss the war in Ukraine but added that there are also a “large number of questions” regarding normalising US-Russia relations.

Mr Trump has said that control of land and power plants will be part of the conversation, which comes on the anniversary of Russia annexing Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula 11 years ago.

That bold land grab by Russia set the stage for Russia to invade its neighbour in 2022.

Mr Witkoff and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that US and Russian officials have discussed the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, in southern Ukraine.

The plant has been caught in the crossfire since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and seized the facility shortly after.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly expressed alarm about it, fuelling fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.

The plant is a significant asset, producing nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity in the year before the war.

“I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace,” Ms Leavitt said. “And we’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment. And the president, as you know, is determined to get one done.”

But Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Centre on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, questioned whether Mr Putin is ready to end the war or will hold out for potential further concessions as Mr Trump grows impatient.

After a disastrous February 28 White House meeting with Mr Zelensky, Mr Trump temporarily cut off some military intelligence-sharing and aid to Ukraine.

It was restored after the Ukrainians last week signed off on the Trump administration’s 30-day ceasefire proposal.

“The US has been consistently offering in some form pre-emptive concessions that have been weakening the American and Ukrainian negotiating position,” Mr Bowman said.

“I think there’s a real danger here that the administration’s approach is boiling down to sticks for Ukraine and carrots for Putin.”

Mr Zelensky in his nightly video address on Monday made clear he remains doubtful that Mr Putin is ready for peace.

“Now, almost a week later, it’s clear to everyone in the world, even to those who refused to acknowledge the truth for the past three years, that it is Mr Putin who continues to drag out this war,” Mr Zelensky said.

In his dealings with Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin, Mr Trump has frequently focused on who has the leverage. Mr Putin has “the cards” and Mr Zelensky does not, Mr Trump has said repeatedly.

Mr Trump, who has long shown admiration for Mr Putin, has also made clear he would like to see the US-Russia relationship return to a more normal footing.

The president, during his recent contentious meeting with Mr Zelensky, grumbled that “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me”, a reference to the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in which he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Mr Trump on Monday again underscored his view that Ukraine is not in a strong negotiating position.

He said Russian forces have “surrounded” Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, amplifying an assertion made by Russian officials that has been disputed by Mr Zelensky.

Ukraine’s army stunned Russia in August last year by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 500 square miles of land.

But Ukraine’s forces are now in retreat and it has all but lost a valuable bargaining chip, as momentum builds for a ceasefire with Russia.

Mr Zelensky has acknowledged that the Ukrainians are on the back foot while disputing Russian claims that his troops are encircled in Kursk.

Mr Trump suggested that he has taken unspecified action that has kept Russia from slaughtering Ukrainian troops in Kursk.

“They’re surrounded by Russian soldiers, and I believe if it wasn’t for me they wouldn’t be here any longer,” Mr Trump said.