RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Putin-Trump phone call: key takeaways
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held a much-anticipated phone call on Tuesday, discussing a potential settlement of the Ukraine conflict. The conversation lasted for two and a half hours, with both the White House and the Kremlin describing it as positive. Here are the key takeaways from the conversation.
Potential ceasefire
Putin and Trump discussed Trump’s idea of a 30-day ceasefire, with the Russian side outlining multiple issues to be resolved before its implementation, the Kremlin press service said in a statement following the call. Namely, Putin outlined the need to establish a mechanism to properly monitor a potential ceasefire, as well as stop forced mobilization and rearmament in Ukraine.
“Serious risks associated with the Kiev regime’s inability to negotiate, which has repeatedly sabotaged and violated the agreements reached, were also noted,” the Kremlin press service said, adding that Putin also drew Trump’s attention to “the barbaric terrorist crimes committed by Ukrainian militants against the civilian population of Kursk Region.”
Infrastructure strikes pause
Trump proposed that Moscow and Kiev mutually halt strikes on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. Putin backed the idea, immediately giving the Russian military the corresponding order.
“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” the White House said in a statement.
Prisoner swap
The Russian president told his American counterpart about an upcoming prisoner swap with Ukraine, scheduled for Wednesday, the Kremlin press service revealed. The two sides are set to exchange 175 prisoners-of-war each. In addition, Moscow will return 23 critically wounded Ukrainian servicemen to demonstrate its goodwill, the press service noted.
Need for lasting peace
Putin and Trump reaffirmed their commitment to achieving a “lasting peace” rather than a temporary solution for the Ukraine conflict. Moscow regards the need to “eliminate the root causes of the crisis,” as well as meet “Russia’s legitimate interests in the area of security” and “the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kiev,” as key elements required to achieve the goal, the Kremlin press service noted.
Bilateral cooperation
Ties between Russia and the US were also discussed, with both agreeing to work on mutually beneficial projects. Washington and Moscow have been considering a “broad spectrum of areas where our two countries may establish cooperation,” the Kremlin press service stated.
“The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved,” the White House said.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Putin agrees to 30-day halt on energy facility strikes but no full Ukraine ceasefire
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Tuesday to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire that President Donald Trump hoped would be the first step toward a permanent peace deal.
Ukraine said it would support the scaled-back agreement, which would require both countries to hold off firing on each other's energy infrastructure for about a month. Experts said Putin avoided making significant concessions in what could be a play for time as Russian troops advance in eastern Ukraine.
The White House said talks on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea as well as a more complete ceasefire and a permanent peace deal would begin immediately, following a lengthy call between Trump and Putin on Tuesday.
It was unclear whether Ukraine would be involved in those talks, which Trump envoy Steve Witkoff said will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
"Up until recently, we really didn't have consensus around these two aspects - the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing - and today we got to that place, and I think it's a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there," Witkoff told Fox News "Hannity" program.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment, outside business hours, on Witkoff's remarks.
Putin ordered the Russian military to stop attacks against energy sites after speaking with Trump, the Kremlin said.
But he raised concerns that a temporary ceasefire might allow Ukraine to rearm and mobilize more soldiers, and doubled down on his demand that any resolution required an end to all military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, according to a Kremlin statement.
Trump told Fox News aid to Ukraine did not come up in the conversation.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country would support the proposal to stop strikes on energy facilities and infrastructure for 30 days. He said Russia launched more than 40 drones late on Tuesday, hitting a hospital in Sumy and other areas, including the Kyiv region that surrounds the Ukrainian capital.
"Today, Putin de facto rejected the proposal for a complete ceasefire. It would be right for the world to reject in response any attempts by Putin to drag out the war," Zelenskiy said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Trump, who has had a complicated relationship with Zelenskiy, spoke positively of his call with Putin.
"We had a great call. It lasted almost two hours," Trump said on Fox News's "The Ingraham Angle" show.
But the U.S. president did not get what he wanted. Ukraine, which Trump had previously described as being more difficult to work with than Russia, had agreed to the U.S. proposal for a full 30-day ceasefire. Putin did not.
"This call brought to light how difficult of an interlocutor Russia is going to be and the general unwillingness of Russia to talk about making real progress in stopping this war," said Kristine Berzina, a managing director at the German Marshall Fund think tank. She called the limited ceasefire "a very small step forward."
Since Russia's full-scale 2022 invasion, Ukraine has tried to fight back against its much larger neighbor with drone and missile strikes deep in Russian territory, including on energy facilities. Those attacks, which Moscow says amount to terrorism, have allowed Kyiv to keep pressure on Russia's economy.
That means a ceasefire on attacking energy infrastructure could benefit Russia, said Maria Snegovaya, senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In a social media post after the call, Trump said he and Putin had agreed to work quickly toward a ceasefire and eventually a permanent peace agreement.
"Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end," he wrote, using an alternate spelling for the Ukrainian leader.
Ukraine said on March 11 it was prepared to accept a full 30-day ceasefire, a step that U.S. officials said would lead to a more substantial round of negotiations to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two. The war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Trump has hinted that a permanent peace deal could include territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Zelenskiy, who arrived in Helsinki for an official visit on Tuesday shortly after Trump and Putin's call ended, said Europe must be included in Ukraine peace talks.
The talks between Trump and Putin came as Israel resumed its attacks on Hamas in Gaza, threatening a fragile truce and underscoring the difficulty of securing lasting ceasefires in long-running conflicts.
The two leaders also discussed how to prevent future conflicts in the Middle East and "shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel," the White House said.
U.S. SHIFT WORRIES EUROPEAN ALLIES
Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine's east and pushing back Ukrainian troops from Russia's Kursk region.
The agreement on a narrow ceasefire reflects Trump's desire to normalize relations with Russia and suggests that Putin may be playing for time, said Susan Colbourn, an expert on European security issues at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy.
"It was striking how little concession Trump is asking from the Russians, although they invaded their neighbor," Colbourn said.
The U.S. president's overtures to Putin since returning to the White House in January have alarmed U.S. allies.
Ukraine and its Western allies have long described Russia's invasion of Ukraine as an imperialist land grab, and Zelenskiy has accused Putin of deliberately prolonging the war.
Zelenskiy says Ukraine's sovereignty is not negotiable and Russia must surrender the territory it has seized.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Tuesday that Russia had massively expanded its military-industrial production capacity in preparation for "future confrontation with European democracies."
Speaking at a press conference in Berlin with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Germany's outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the limited ceasefire was an important first step but again called for a complete ceasefire. He reiterated that Ukraine must be part of any final decision.
Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and most of four eastern Ukrainian regions following its invasion in 2022. All told, it controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Putin said he sent troops into Ukraine because NATO's creeping expansion threatened Russia's security. He has demanded Ukraine drop any ambition of joining the Western military alliance.
Putin has also said Russia must keep control of Ukrainian territory it has seized, Western sanctions should be eased and Kyiv must stage a presidential election. Zelenskiy, elected in 2019, has remained in office under martial law he imposed because of the war.
RT/Reuters
