Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has agreed to a moratorium halting attacks on Russia’s energy sector, following a Wednesday phone call with President Donald Trump.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz issued a statement on the Trump-Zelenskyy call, stating the two leaders “agreed on a partial ceasefire against energy.”
Trump and Zelenskyy’s phone conversation lasted about an hour and came a day after Trump proposed the moratorium on energy infrastructure attacks to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Following that Tuesday call, the Kremlin said Putin had immediately passed down the order to halt new Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy facilities.
“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” Trump said of his Wednesday call with Zelenskyy.
Just hours before the Wednesday call with Washington, Zelenskyy alleged Russian forces had already breached the agreement.
Speaking at a press conference in Finland, Zelenskyy said Russian forces launched around 150 attack drones toward Ukraine in the hours after Trump concluded his call with Putin. He said those Russian attack drones had targeted Ukrainian energy sites, transportation systems, and hospitals.
Russian officials claimed that Ukrainian forces had also targeted an oil transfer site in Russia’s Krasnodar region on Wednesday, setting fire to an oil tank there.
Broader Cease-Fire Negotiations Proceeding
Last week, Zelenskyy voiced his support for a U.S.-backed proposal for a 30-day cease-fire covering not just energy facilities but all aspects of the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.After Trump and Putin’s call on Tuesday, the White House said the next round of negotiations would concern a cease-fire at sea and then a more comprehensive cease-fire and eventual permanent peace.
“Technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss broadening the ceasefire to the Black Sea on the way to a full cease-fire,” Rubio and Waltz’s joint press statement reads.
Following Trump and Putin’s call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said that in order to prevent new escalations and advance peace talks, there should be “a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv.”
According to Rubio and Waltz’s readout of the Wednesday call, Zelenskyy asked for more air defense systems for Ukraine, to which Trump “agreed to work with him to find what was available particularly in Europe.”
Trump and Zelenskyy also discussed exchanges of prisoners of war and efforts to locate and return children who have gone missing or been taken from Ukraine during the war.
Rubio and Waltz said Trump also pitched the idea of the United States taking a more involved role in Ukraine’s energy facilities.
“[Trump] said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” Rubio and Waltz recounted. “American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
Zelenskyy didn’t mention Trump’s comments about American ownership in Ukraine’s energy facilities in his own readout of the call.
Washington and Kyiv have previously discussed an economic partnership arrangement, whereby the United States would benefit from access to certain Ukrainian industries and natural resources. Trump and Zelenskyy had planned to finalize such a deal last month, but the talks fell through after a heated Oval Office exchange.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration had moved on from this earlier proposal.
“We’ve moved beyond just the economic minerals deal framework, and we’re looking at a lasting cease-fire,” she said.
