Russia agrees to limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine, White House says
Russia has agreed to a limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine as part of the US-led initiative to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House has confirmed.
In a statement released after Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin, the White House said the two sides agreed to hold “technical negotiations” on a maritime ceasefire, and, further, full ceasefire and permanent peace.
“These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” the White House said.
Trump and Putin also “agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the US and Russia has huge upside,” with “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability.”
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Vladimir Putin
Today, President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. They also 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.
This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts. The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel. The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.
Key events
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Putin agrees to 30-day ceasefire in attacks on energy infrastructure, but long lists of conditions, demands remain for further progress
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Russia agrees to limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine, White House says
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Morning opening: Waiting for the call
We’re starting to get reaction from European leaders to the very limited ceasefire agreed during the Trump-Putin call, maintaining that a total ceasefire must follow – and there must be no decisions made without Ukraine and over Ukraine’s head.
At a news conference in Berlin with French president Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, the outgoing German chancellor, said that while the agreement to end Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is “a good start”, “there cannot be an agreement without Ukraine”.
The next step must be a complete ceasefire for Ukraine and as quickly as possible. Of course it is clear that we both agree on this too.
Macron echoed this sentiment. He said:
We have been promoting peace since day one and that cannot be achieved without Ukraine taking part in talks.
As we’ve been reporting, some progress towards a ceasefire seems to have been made during the more than two-hour-long call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. But, as expected, Moscow has laid out stiff demands for a full truce.
As Bloomberg (paywall) reported this morning, Putin wants a halt to all arms shipments to Ukraine as a prerequisite to any agreement to fully pause the war. The Kremlin readout outlines that a priority for Russia remains “the need to stop forced mobilization in Ukraine and rearm the Ukrainian Armed Forces”, and a key condition for preventing escalation of the war is “complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”.
As my colleague Pjotr Sauer reported earlier, Europe is likely to be uneasy about agreeing to this condition, as the UK and European Union are ramping up efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages to Kyiv as soon as possible. European leaders fear that any such agreement would produce a scenario in which Russia simply rearms to attack Ukraine again after the ceasefire ends, while Ukraine would be left unable to prepare a defence.
Jakub Krupa
On that note, that’s all from me Jakub Krupa, but I’m leaving you with Lucy Campbell to guide you through the evening as we expect to learn more about what was discussed between Trump and Putin.
Stay with our coverage on Europe Live.
US-Russia hockey games floated in Putin-Trump talks
Curiously, the Russian readout also includes an amusing line that the two leaders appeared to discuss Putin’s idea to “organise hockey matches in the United States and Russia” between Russian and American players performing in the NHL and the Russian equivalent, the KHL (Kontinental Hockey League).
There is no mention of that in the US readout.
Jakub Krupa
According to both parties, Trump and Putin agreed on a limited stop in attacks on energy infrastructure, but it seems that Trump was unable to push Putin into a broader ceasefire, which would include land and sea operations.
The agreed format – with focus on energy infrastructure and further talks on stopping hostilities at sea – appears to be closer to the much narrower original proposal made by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first publicly floated by French president Emmanuel Macron.
On other issues, there doesn’t appear to be much progress, with major differences remaining.
But we still need to hear more about the details of what was agreed.
Putin agrees to 30-day ceasefire in attacks on energy infrastructure, but long lists of conditions, demands remain for further progress
The Kremlin readout, in Russian, is more extensive, and gives us a glimpse into Putin’s arguments – and a long list of conditions and demands on his side.
It says the Russian side “outlined a number of significant points” requiring further consideration, including on “effective control” over any ceasefire along the line of conflict, and Russia’s demand to stop mobilisation of Ukrainians and rearming of its armed forces alongside its broader request to “eliminate the root causes of the crisis.”
The statement also added Moscow’s “key condition” to prevent further escalation of the conflict in a demand to “completely cease” foreign military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine.
But the readout confirms that Putin has agreed to a 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure, and says the Russian leader has already issued relevant orders.
The Kremlin’s text also says that Putin “responded constructively” to proposal of a ceasefire at sea, with further negotiations expected on this issue.
The statement also says that Putin informed Trump of plans for a Russian-Ukrainian swap of 175 prisoners of war on each side, and “as a gesture of goodwill” a further release of 23 “seriously wounded” Ukrainian servicemen.
The readout also covered their discussions on the Middle East and the Red Sea, as well as broader push to “normalise bilateral relations.”
Russia agrees to limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine, White House says
Russia has agreed to a limited energy and infrastructure ceasefire in Ukraine as part of the US-led initiative to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the White House has confirmed.
In a statement released after Donald Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin, the White House said the two sides agreed to hold “technical negotiations” on a maritime ceasefire, and, further, full ceasefire and permanent peace.
“These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” the White House said.
Trump and Putin also “agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the US and Russia has huge upside,” with “enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability.”
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Vladimir Putin
Today, President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. They also 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.
This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts. The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel. The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.
Russia and Ukraine to swap 175 prisoners of war, Kremlin says
We’re getting first lines from the Kremlin, via Reuters, confirming that the two leaders discussed Ukraine and agreed that Ukraine and Russia will swap 175 prisoners of war.
These early reports say the pair agreed to “set up expert groups on Ukrainian settlement” to work further on the issue.
They also say the two discussed Middle East, and energy.
We will bring you more soon.
Both the Kremlin and the White House have now confirmed the call is over.
US broadcaster CBS News and Russian state news agency TASS are reporting that the Trump-Putin phone call has now concluded.
We will bring you any official lines as soon as we get them.
We are still waiting to hear from the White House or the Kremlin, but…
We just got this line via Reuters from Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s special envoy on international economic and investment cooperation, reportedly saying that:
Under the leadership of president Putin and president Trump, the world has become a much safer place today.
Let’s wait and see what that means.