US President Donald Trump has held what he described as a “very good” hour-long phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the call was aimed at aligning Ukraine and Russia “in terms of their requests and needs”, adding that ceasefire efforts were on track.
Both Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin have said they would agree to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. However, both sides have since accused each other of continued attacks.
Trump is seeking a wider truce, but in a phone call with him on Tuesday Putin rejected an immediate 30-day ceasefire on land, air and sea backed by the US and Ukraine.
Meanwhile Kyiv and Moscow have carried out an exchange of prisoners. Each side released 175 POWs.
Zelensky described the swap as “one of the largest”, adding that Russia included an extra 22 “severely wounded” soldiers.
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Trump said Wednesday’s call with Zelensky lasted about an 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,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“We are very much on track,” he added.
Later Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a more detailed statement, saying that Trump had agreed to help Ukraine source additional air defence systems, particularly in Europe.
Technical teams would meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss broadening the ceasefire to the Black Sea, Rubio added, saying they agreed that this could be the first step towards fully ending the war.
Trump also offered US help with running Ukraine’s power plants, adding that US ownership would be the “best protection” for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Rubio said.
Zelensky has also commented, describing the conversation as “positive”, “frank”, and “very substantive”.
“We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace,” he said.
Trump spoke to Putin for two hours by phone on Tuesday, in which the Russian leader agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
But he said a full ceasefire would only work if Ukraine’s allies stopped giving military assistance – a condition Ukraine’s European allies have previously rejected.
Hours later both Ukraine and Russia launched attacks, with Kyiv saying hospitals had been targeted.
Officials in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said that a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a small fire at an oil depot.
