WASHINGTON — President Trump said he held a “very good” hourlong call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Wednesday — one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected an unconditional 30-day cease-fire that Washington and Kyiv agreed to last week.
“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 on Truth Social after the conversation wrapped. “We are very much on track.”
Zelensky also raved about the Trump chat, calling it “a positive, very substantive, and frank conversation” in a post to X, adding that “together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year.”
“I thanked him for a good and productive start to the work of the Ukrainian and American teams in Jeddah on March 11—this meeting of the teams significantly helped in moving toward ending the war,” he said. “We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace.”
During the call, Trump and Zelensky also discussed the return of Ukrainian children forcibly taken by Russians, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at an afternoon briefing.
The youths’ return from Russia was a key part of Trump’s cease-fire proposal, but was not mentioned in either Washington or Moscow’s readouts of the Tuesday call.
“President Trump also asked President Zelensky about the children who had gone missing from Ukraine during the war, including the ones that had been abducted,” she said. “President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home.”
While Putin rejected Trump’s proposal, he agreed in their call yesterday to an immediate cease-fire limited to attacking energy infrastructure.
While the Kremlin’s readout of the Tuesday call with Trump claimed Putin “immediately” ordered his military to adhere to the limited cease-fire, Zelensky on Wednesday said the claim was “very much at odds with reality” following a series of drone attacks across Ukraine.
While Putin rejected Trump’s proposal, he agreed in their call yesterday to an immediate cease-fire limited to attacking energy infrastructure.
While the Kremlin’s readout of the Tuesday call with Trump claimed Putin “immediately” ordered his military to adhere to the limited cease-fire, Zelensky on Wednesday said the claim was “very much at odds with reality” following a series of drone attacks across Ukraine.
Ahead of Trump’s call with Zelensky, Waltz told reporters at the White House Wednesday morning that he had spoken to his Russian counterpart, and had another scheduled with unspecified Ukrainian officials.
While Kyiv wants to participate in discussions alongside the US and Russia, Putin has demanded only one-on-one calls with Washington, forcing the Trump administration to act as the go-between.
“Shuttle diplomacy is difficult, it’s tough, but we are going back and forth at every level driving both sides toward a cease-fire and driving both sides toward the end of this war,” said Waltz, who joined Trump in denying Russia’s claims that Putin had demanded the White House cut off military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
“It was emphasized that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said in its Tuesday readout.”
Waltz did not respond when asked if Russian officials were lying about that portion of the call.
The White House also had no immediate response to Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector following Putin’s promise to Trump. It took under an hour from the Trump-Putin phone call for Russia to launch an attack affecting the energy grid in Sloviansk, located in the contested Donetsk region.
“Putin backed Trump’s 30-day pause on energy strikes—then broke his word in less than an hour. Russia hit Sloviansk’s energy infrastructure, leaving half the city without power,” Ukrainian Member of Parliament Inna Sovsun posted to X. “Shocking? Absolutely not.”
Moscow sought the “energy infrastructure” cease-fire after Ukraine targeted multiple Russian oil facilities in recent weeks.
On March 11, Kyiv launched a drone attack on Moscow Oil Refinery, which provides the Russian capital with about half of its diesel and gasoline needs.In a readout of Putin’s call with Trump on Tuesday, the Kremlin reiterated that Putin would only agree to Trump’s proposal if Ukraine stopped drafting new troops and stopped taking military aid during the cessation of fighting — though Moscow would not be required to do the same.
In a readout of Putin’s call with Trump on Tuesday, the Kremlin reiterated that Putin would only agree to Trump’s proposal if Ukraine stopped drafting new troops and stopped taking military aid during the cessation of fighting — though Moscow would not be required to do the same.
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