Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy agrees to 'partial ceasefire'

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy says he is open to a "partial ceasefire" after a "frank" call with US President Trump, who suggested the United States take over Ukrainian power plants as a security guarantee. DW has more.

2 hours ago

Ukrainian frontline troops suspicious of Trump and Putin's proposals

Matt Ford with AFP

 

While US President Donald Trump attempts to engage in international telephone diplomacy with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, Ukrainian soldiers on the frontlines in Donetsk are not hopeful that much will change.

Oleg, 33, doesn't believe that there will "ever" be a ceasefire with Russia. "This country has been at war its entire existence," he tells the French AFP news agency. "Going to war is probably in their DNA."

For Roman, also 33 and serving since the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin is only offering to halt the targeting of energy infrastructure because it "benefits him."

"He doesn't want his oil refineries being bombed," he reasons. "His tanks need gas."

Should such a partial ceasefire come into effect — both Putin and Zelenskyy have told Trump they would maintain such a ceasefire — it will be up to soldiers like Oleksandr, who commands a drone reconnaissance unit, to observe and police it.

"We'll be able to monitor the situation along the line of contact and observe the extent to which the conditions are being respected," he explains. "We certainly won't be short of work, at any rate."

Oleksandr is also concerned that any temporary ceasefire would be advantageous to Russia since Putin is also demanding that Ukraine halt its mobilization and rearmament efforts.

"Whatever happens, we won't remain idle with our arms crossed; we'll learn and develop and continue defending our country," he says. "It's impossible to negotiate with terrorists."

2 hours ago
Trump suggests US control of Ukrainian power stations in 'frank' call with Zelenskyy

US President Donald Trump has suggested that the United States could take over the operation of Ukrainian power plants in order to guarantee their security.

Trump made the suggestion in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, telling him the US could be "very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise," according to a White House statement.

Trump added that "American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure."

The idea of a vested American economic interest or of the presence of American civilians in Ukraine was also part of the thinking behind the proposed US-Ukraine minerals which was put on ice after the shouting match between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last month.

Wednesday's approximately one-hour phone call, described in the White House statement as "fantastic," was the first conversation between the two presidents since that meeting and also came just one day after Trump had held a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which he claimed that Moscow had agreed to halt its bombardment of Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days.

In return, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Zelenskyy had agreed to a "partial ceasefire," which would include halting retaliatory attacks on Russia's energy infrastructure.

"One of the first steps towards fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure," Zelenskyy wrote on social media following the call. "I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it."

Zelenskyy described the call with Trump as "very substantive and frank," saying: "We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire. Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace."

  

Skip next section EU's Kallas to propose providing Ukraine with 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition 

3 hours ago
EU's Kallas to propose providing Ukraine with 2 million rounds of artillery ammunition Matt Ford with Reuters

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wants to provide Ukraine with 2 million rounds of large-caliber artillery ammunition worth around €5 billion ($5.43 billion), which she says are "available on the market and could be delivered in 2025."

Kallas said on Wednesday that she intends to present the proposal to European leaders at a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, where she will "stress the importance of supporting this objective."

The EU's diplomatic service last week circulated a discussion paper saying the bloc should be prepared to double its military aid to Ukraine this year to €40bn, but multiple countries have expressed concerns about going so far.

Instead, in a letter seen by Reuters news agency, Kallas is pushing for her artillery ammunition plan as a first step.

The proposal comes as Kallas also presented an EU Commission white paper laying out plans to facilitate European rearmament.

 

Trump says he had 'a very good telephone call' with Zelenskyy

US President Donald Trump said he had "a very good telephone call" with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that lasted approximately one hour.

"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 wrote is a post on Truth Social.

He added that the leaders are "very much on track," and he will ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz to provide a description of what was discussed soon.

 

Waltz says US, Russian technical teams to meet in Riyadh

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz said he spoke with his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, about "President Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine."

The advisers have agreed that their "technical teams would meet in Riyadh in the coming days to focus on implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire President Trump secured from Russia," Waltz wrote on X.

• Germany's Pistorius says 'Putin playing a game' after Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure
• EU's Kallas says Putin clearly unwilling to make concessions
• Ukraine says Russia fired six missiles, 145 drones after Putin-Trump call

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-zelenskyy-agrees-to-partial-ceasefire/live-71969048

 

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Ukraine immediately broke Putin-Trump deal on energy targets – Moscow

 

The Ukrainian military allegedly attacked an energy site deep inside Russia after it announced a pause on long-range strikes

 

 

The Ukrainian military has attacked an oil transfer facility in Russia’s Krasnodar Region that services an international pipeline operation partially owned by American investors, the Defense Ministry in Moscow announced on Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone for more than two hours on Tuesday, with the two leaders announcing progress on the path towards a truce in the Ukraine conflict. Moscow agreed to suspend attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure for 30 days, with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky publicly endorsing the partial ceasefire.

The overnight attack involved three kamikaze drones directed against a station near the village of Kavkazskaya, the ministry reported. The facility is used to transfer crude from rail-transported tanks to a pipeline operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), an international firm that counts US giants Chevron and Mobil among its partners.

READ MORE: NATO member accuses Ukraine of threatening its sovereignty

The attack caused damage to an on-site oil reservoir and a fire, which is yet to be doused, the Defense Ministry reported.

“Clearly, this was a premeditated provocation by the Kiev regime aimed at derailing the US president’s peace initiative,” the Russian military claimed.

Russia had seven kamikaze drones in flight towards military targets in Ukraine’s Nikolayev Region when Putin ordered the suspension of such operations following his call with Trump, the statement said. Russian forces utilized anti-aircraft systems and a fighter jet to disable them all, it added.

The incident demonstrates a lack of reciprocity from Kiev on the deescalation initiative, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said later in the day. Russian officials “are taking a good look at the Kiev regime” to determine whether it is truly supporting Trump and Putin in seeking peace, he added.

 

https://www.rt.com/russia/614485-ukraine-violate-ceasefire-trump/

 

 

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