WASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to give his United States counterpart Donald Trump the 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine he and his team had demanded on the path toward ending the three-year conflict. It was still good enough for the US president.
At first glance, the agreement that came out of the two leaders’ phone call on Tuesday was a disappointment for US officials who had insisted the only acceptable outcome was a halt in the fighting to make way for a permanent peace.
Instead, Putin agreed only to limit attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure while demanding that the US and other nations stop the flow of weapons and intelligence to the neighbour his military invaded.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would agree to such an idea provided the US plays the role of middleman. And Trump, never one to admit defeat, hailed the result as a victory — and as a possible first step toward a bigger deal.
"Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed," Trump said in a social media post about the call, in which the two leaders also agreed to start a negotiating process toward a larger ceasefire. "That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!"
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who met with Putin to help set the stage for the leaders' call, said in a Fox News interview that a US delegation led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz will go to Saudi Arabia for further talks on granular details aimed at moving toward a ceasefire.
Even the faint progress on Tuesday for Trump's high-profile but controversial ceasefire proposal could be enough to silence some criticism that he is selling out the Ukrainians. It may even constitute a political win at a time when some analysts feared Trump might formally recognise Russia's sovereignty over Ukraine's Crimea region or make some other concession.
"I was expecting the worst," retired Lt Gen Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of US Army Europe, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "The fact we did not hear those is better than if we had. But we have to be very clear — I think Vladimir Putin has zero interest in any true long-term settlement as long as he remains in power, and his objective still remains the destruction of Ukraine."
Witkoff said the agreement to reduce hostilities stretches beyond energy infrastructure to infrastructure in general — even though the Russian summary of the call did not say that — and that there was consensus on those two issues between Trump and Putin. He also said he hopes Ukraine will agree to a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea. "And I think it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there," he added.
Yet underscoring that there was no immediate change in the grinding war in Ukraine, waves of Russian drones bombarded the capital Kyiv for hours Tuesday night.
Zelenskiy said civilian infrastructure, including a hospital, was among the things hit by a drone attack.
"Today, Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire," the Ukrainian leader said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in English. "It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war."
Relationship revival
Although Ukraine was the focus of the call with Putin, Trump signalled he also has his eye on broader geopolitical and economic gains from a renewed relationship with Russia.
"The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside," the White House said in its summary of the conversation. "This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved."
A view shows the Russian flag on the facade of a historic building alongside the American flag on the facade of the US Embassy in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday. (Photo: Reuters)
The Trump administration also said the two leaders spoke "broadly" about the Middle East "as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts," where the US and Israel are in a multifront battle against militias backed by Russia’s ally Iran.
The Kremlin said in its own statement on Tuesday's call that there is a "wide range of areas" where the US and Russia could cooperate and that the two leaders discussed "developing mutually beneficial cooperation in the economy and energy sector in the future."
The next big question is whether European allies will see things the same way as Trump. So far, they suggested they will not. United Kingdom (UK) Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK and European Union (EU) are in talks to accelerate arms shipments to Ukraine ahead of a potential full ceasefire, not stop them as Putin demanded.
Lammy said he discussed the possibility of sending more military support to Ukraine before any broad cessation in fighting is implemented at a meeting in London with the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, on Tuesday. The idea was also raised at the Group of Seven meeting of foreign ministers in Canada last week, he said.
"Of course, it's our intention to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position militarily and economically," the foreign secretary told Bloomberg in an interview before Putin's call with Trump concluded. "We want peace to prevail, but we get peace through strength, and that means putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position to repel any prospects of the war beginning again."
