Kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed Wednesday to a limited ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, as US President Donald Trump suggested during a call with the embattled country's leader that he consider American ownership of Ukraine's power plants to ensure their long-term security.

Trump told Zelensky that the US could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise," according to a White House statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz that described the call as “fantastic.”

“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure," Zelensky said on social media following the roughly hour-long call, which came a day after Trump held similar talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it.”

Trump suggested “American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure,” according to White House officials. The idea was floated even as the Trump administration looks to finalize an agreement to gain access to Ukraine's critical minerals as partial repayment for US support for Ukraine during the war.

White House officials did not reveal any further details about Trump's thinking on potential American involvement with Ukrainian power plant.

Weeks after a disastrous Oval Office meeting between the two leaders that led to Trump temporarily pausing intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump and Zelensky had “a very good conversation” in which they joked around, according to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to comment publicly. There was an emphasis during the call on how any ceasefire process would need to be monitored and how the various negotiating teams would still need to resolve technical issues, the official said.

During the call, Zelensky requested additional Patriot defense missile systems. Rubio and Waltz said Trump “agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe."

Trump has made clear that quickly ending the war is a top priority for his new administration. He has repeatedly complained about the cost -- the US has sent Ukraine more than $180 billion in military and economic aid since the start of the war.

On Tuesday, Putin told Trump that he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump proposed. Zelensky signed off on the limited ceasefire deal to halt strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, according to the White House.

According to the Kremlin, Putin made clear to Trump that there must be a cessation of foreign military aid and intelligence sharing as part of any deal. But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday underscored that US “intelligence sharing in terms of defense for Ukraine” would continue.

The Kremlin Says Kyiv Isn't Upholding Its End of The Bargain
Prior to his call with Trump, Zelensky said Putin’s limited ceasefire pledge was “very much at odds with reality” after Russia launched an overnight barrage of drone strikes across Ukraine, including some that struck Ukrainian energy facilities.

Russia responded by saying it had halted its targeting of Ukraine's energy facilities and accused Kyiv of attacking Russian equipment near one of its pipelines.

“Unfortunately, we see that for now there is no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv regime," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The White House described Tuesday's call between Trump and Putin as the first step in a “movement to peace” that Washington hopes will include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and, eventually, a full and lasting end to the fighting.

But there was no indication that Putin is ready to back away from his conditions for a prospective peace deal, which are fiercely opposed by Kyiv.

Russia Is Holding the Ceasefire Proposal ‘Hostage’
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said that Putin’s demands during the call with Trump would amount to “Ukrainian capitulation.”

“Putin is attempting to hold the temporary ceasefire proposal hostage in order to extract preemptive concessions ahead of formal negotiations to end the war,” the ISW said in an analysis of readouts of the Trump-Putin call from the White House and Kremlin.

The White House also confirmed that technical experts from the US, Ukraine and Russia would gather in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss implementing the partial ceasefire that Trump and Putin agreed to in their call this week. It was not immediately clear if the U.S. would meet together or separately with the Ukrainian and Russian officials. Waltz spoke with his Russian counterpart, Yuri Ushakov, on Wednesday to discuss the coming talks.

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