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Key Points
- Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia.
- Trump said he will help Ukraine locate necessary military equipment in Europe.
- Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to halt strikes and commit to a US-proposed ceasefire.
United States President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to work together to end Russia’s war with Ukraine, in what the White House described as a “fantastic” one-hour phone call.
Overnight, in their first conversation since an Oval Office meeting descended into , Zelenskyy thanked Trump for US support, and the men agreed that technical teams would meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
Zelenskyy asked Trump for more air defence support to protect his country against Russian attacks and Trump said he would help locate the necessary military equipment in Europe, the White House said.
Trump briefed Zelenskyy on his , during which Putin rejected a proposed full 30-day ceasefire sought by Trump but agreed to pause attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
That narrowly defined pause appeared in doubt on Thursday AEDT, with Russia saying Ukraine hit an oil depot in southern Russia, while Ukraine said Russia had struck hospitals, homes, and power outages affecting some railways.
Still, the two sides announced they had carried out a prisoner exchange, each releasing 175 troops in a deal facilitated by the United Arab Emirates.
Russia said it freed an additional 22 wounded Ukrainians as a goodwill gesture.
‘Positive, very substantive and frank’ call, Zelenskyy says
Zelenskyy, describing his conversation with Trump as “positive, very substantive and frank,” said he had confirmed Ukraine’s readiness to halt strikes on Russian infrastructure and its commitment to an unconditional ceasefire on the front line as the US proposed earlier.
“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it,” he said on social media.
Later, Zelenskyy told reporters in a video call that Trump understands Ukraine will not recognise occupied land as Russian.
Zelenskyy said the Russian strikes, which he said were carried out since Trump’s call with Putin, showed that Russia was not ready for peace. He said the US should be in charge of monitoring any ceasefire, adding a halt to infrastructure attacks could be quickly established.
The Kremlin said it had called off planned attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including by shooting down seven of Russia’s own drones heading towards Ukraine. It accused Ukraine of failing to call off its own attacks in what it called an attempt to sabotage the agreement.
Trump suggests US could help run power plants
Trump suggested to Zelenskyy the US could help run, and possibly own, Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, according to a statement by the US administration.
“President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” it said.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, has been shut down since Russian troops occupied it in 2022.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine has started talks with the US about its possible involvement in restoring the Zaporizhzhia plant.
