Summary
- President Trump and President Putin‘s call lasted about two hours
- ‘Energy ceasefire’ proposal agreed
- Russia wants foreign military aid to Ukraine to stop
- Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says could back energy proposal
- Read our roundup here
What’s next for Trump, Putin and Zelenskiy?
We’re closing down today’s live page on the Trump Putin call.
The two agreed during a lengthy call that Russia would stop attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but not the wider 30-day ceasefire that Trump had hoped for.
Putin ordered the Russian military to stop all such attacks, the Kremin said in a statement, but also that foreign military aid to Ukraine should stop to prevent the conflict escalating.
Asked about Putin’s aid demand, Trump told Fox News the issue was never discussed.
Zelenskiy said he would support a ceasefire on energy asset attacks, adding it was his idea.
Reactions to Trump’s negotiating was mixed, with some Western leaders and analysts skeptical of Putin’s commitment.
Zelenskiy will hold a press conference in Finland Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine accused the other of cross-border attack attempts.
Trump says he didn’t discuss aid with Putin, contradicting Kremlin
Trump told Fox News that aid to Ukraine was not discussed in his call with Putin, contradicting Russia’s official statement on the call.
“The Kremlin media actually stated that he demanded an immediate cessation of aid to Ukraine in order to get to this multi-step deal,” interviewer Laura Ingraham said.
“No, he didn’t. We didn’t talk about aid, actually we didn’t talk about aid at all,” Trump said. “We talked about a lot of things but aid was never discussed.”
The Kremlin said earlier that Putin had emphasized during the call that foreign military assistance to Ukraine should stop.
“It was emphasized that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution by political and diplomatic means should be a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said in a statement about the call.
Trump stops program to track abducted Ukraine children, US lawmakers say
Patricia Zengerle
Democratic U.S. lawmakers will call on Trump’s administration to restore a program that helps track thousands of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
As it slashes a wide range of U.S. government programs and most foreign aid, the Republican president’s administration has ended a government-funded initiative led by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL) that tracked the mass deportation of children from Ukraine, the lawmakers wrote.
That decision meant researchers have lost access to a trove of information, including satellite imagery and other data, about some 30,000 children taken from Ukraine.
“We have reason to believe that the data from the repository has been permanently deleted,” they wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a letter due to be sent on Wednesday.
Getting Putin to agree to a full ceasefire would have been “tough,” Trump told Fox News program commentator Laura Ingraham in an interview after the call.
Here is an excerpt released by Fox:
INGRAHAM: It was a fairly optimistic take. Vladimir Putin agreed to a cease-fire immediately on energy and infrastructure… but not to a 30-day ceasefire. Tell us what happened.
TRUMP: Well, you have a situation where you have a lot of guns pointing at each other, foolishly, because it would have never happened if I were president. That was not a war that was supposed to happen. And it did happen. So, that’s where we are.
And, right now, you have a lot of guns pointing at each other. And the ceasefire, without going a little bit further, would have been tough. Russia has the advantage, as you know. They have encircled about 2,500 soldiers. They are nicely encircled, and that’s not good. And we want to get it over with. Look, we’re doing this.
There are no Americans involved. There could be, you could end up in World War III over this, which is so ridiculous, but strange things happen. And I think we had a great call. It lasted almost two hours. We talked about a lot of things, and toward getting it to peace. And we talked about other things also.
Russia launches over 40 drones, Zelenskiy says
Zelenskiy said Russia launched more than 40 drones late on Tuesday, hitting civilian infrastructure and showing that pressure on Putin must continue for the sake of peace.
“It is precisely such night attacks by Russia that destroy our energy systems, our infrastructure, the normal life of Ukrainians,” Zelenskiy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
“Today, Putin de facto rejected the proposal for a complete ceasefire. It would be right for the world to reject in response any attempts by Putin to drag out the war.”
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of cross-border attacks
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of trying to launch cross-border attacks on Tuesday, with each saying its forces had repelled attempted incursions.
Both sides said their forces were in full control of their territory on their own sides of the border and had inflicted losses on enemy troops.
Recap: Trump-Putin call ends with halt on Ukraine energy facility strikes
Getting Putin to agree to a full ceasefire would have been “tough,” Trump told Fox News program commentator Laura Ingraham in an interview after the call.
Here is an excerpt released by Fox:
INGRAHAM: It was a fairly optimistic take. Vladimir Putin agreed to a cease-fire immediately on energy and infrastructure… but not to a 30-day ceasefire. Tell us what happened.
TRUMP: Well, you have a situation where you have a lot of guns pointing at each other, foolishly, because it would have never happened if I were president. That was not a war that was supposed to happen. And it did happen. So, that’s where we are.
And, right now, you have a lot of guns pointing at each other. And the ceasefire, without going a little bit further, would have been tough. Russia has the advantage, as you know. They have encircled about 2,500 soldiers. They are nicely encircled, and that’s not good. And we want to get it over with. Look, we’re doing this.
There are no Americans involved. There could be, you could end up in World War III over this, which is so ridiculous, but strange things happen. And I think we had a great call. It lasted almost two hours. We talked about a lot of things, and toward getting it to peace. And we talked about other things also.
