"The First Step In A Movement To Peace"

"[This is the first step in a] movement to peace."

"Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace." 

"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."

White House statement

 

"We have received signals from the United States that we are talking about the ceasefire on energy facilities, so not to attack energy infrastructure, and we are also talking about the civilian infrastructure facilities."

"We talked only about one power plant, [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in south Ukraine] which is under Russian occupation."

"[I had] felt no pressure [from Trump]. It was a fruitful conversation, perhaps the most fruitful we have had, the mood was positive."

"We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said he had ‘a positive, very substantive’ conversation with the US president. Photograph: @ZelenskyyUa/X

 

"The need to halt arms supplies to Kyiv was discussed during Putin and Trump’s conversation."

"[Ceasing military aid would be] high on the agenda in negotiations between Russia and the US, but the topic will not be discussed publicly."

Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov

 

"It’s a very strange demand, of course. He [Vladimir Putin] wants Ukraine to give up its army, to give up security guarantees, to give up its right to be in alliances, and to give up on various territories."

"This is what he’s been fighting for for three years, and he couldn’t do it militarily …"

"And now that’s what he wants from the negotiations process."

Zelenskyy aide Mykhailo Podolyak

During a lengthy telephone call on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to seek a limited ceasefire against energy and infrastructure targets in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, an agreement that the White House felt would eventually include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, and ultimately, a full and lasting end to the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. 

A statement by the White House added plans for negotiations to "begin immediately" on those steps, to take place in the Middle East, though it was not clear whether Ukraine is in agreement with the phased ceasefire plan. A limited ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes and the release of prisoners was what Ukrainian officials envisaged at their meeting with the U.S. delegation this month in Saudi Arabia.

 

Mr. Putin, on the other hand, according to the Kremlin, welcomed President Trump's calls for the maritime ceasefire and felt confident enough it "agreed to begin negotiations to further work out specific details of such an agreement".  Russia and Ukraine were preparing to exchange 175 prisoners of war on each side the day following, according to the Putin-Trump conversation. Russia planned to hand over to Ukraine in addition, 23 badly wounded soldiers.

 

During the 90-minute conversation, Mr. Putin called on his American counterpart to end its foreign military and intelligence arrangements with Ukraine. While the White House focuses on Russia to sign off on its 30-day ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian officials agreed last week to the 30-day ceasefire proposal in talks led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, nonetheless remains skeptical that the Russian president is sincere in his oblique statements for peace, given that Russian forces continue to pound his country. The latest engagement is yet another turn in dramatically shifting U.S.-Russia relations reflecting Mr. Trump's pre-election statements of his intention to quickly put an end to the war as a top priority. 

 

That in so doing ties with longtime U.S. allies are strained, given their insistence that Putin must pay a price for its invasion of Ukraine, seems not to trouble Mr. Trump one whit. 

As for Ukraine's president, in his nightly video address on Monday, his statements clearly reflected his doubt that 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 Putin who continues to drag out this war", he said.

 

As an aside during the conversation between the U.S. and Russian presidents, the White House later stated that what also came under discussion between the two leaders  during their extensive conversation, is the explosive situation currently unfolding in the Middle East; both purportedly agreeing that "Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel".

 

As for Mr. Putin's longer-range designs, the Kommersant Russian newspaper reported that Putin had informed a meeting of senior business leaders of his intention to continue the fighting until such time that he obtains full control of -- along with international recognition of -- the four regions in Ukraine that Moscow annexed in 2022. Quite obviously, Mr. Putin has abandoned none of his hardline objectives in the war he imposed upon Ukraine.

 

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meeting at a summit in Helsinki, July 2018. EPA-EFE/Mauri Ratilainen