President Donald Trump has held what he described as a “very good” hour-long phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after speaking to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, President 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.
President Zelensky described his conversation with Trump as “positive”, “frank”, and “very substantive”.
“We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year,” Donald Trump wrote on X.
Both Presidents Zelensky and Putin have said they would agree to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. However, both have since accused each other of continued attacks.
Donald Trump is seeking a wider truce, but in their phone call on March 18 Vladimir Putin rejected a full 30-day ceasefire backed by the US and Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a more detailed statement, saying that President Trump had agreed to help Ukraine source additional air defence systems, particularly in Europe.
The two leaders “agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”, he said.
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.
President Trump also raised the possibility of the US taking ownership of Ukraine’s power plants, adding that it would be the “best protection” for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Marco Rubio said.
The apparently cordial mood of the conversation is in marked contrast to Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House at the end of February, in which the two leaders – along with US Vice President JD Vance – were involved in a tense exchange.
Afterwards the US temporarily suspended military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, but diplomats were able to improve relations and on March 11 the two sides agreed on a ceasefire.
During his call with Trump on March 18, Vladimir Putin agreed to halt Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
But he said a full ceasefire would only work if Ukraine’s supporters stopped giving military assistance – a condition Kyiv’s European allies have previously rejected.
Hours later both Ukraine and Russia launched attacks, with Kyiv saying hospitals had been targeted.
Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian strikes demonstrated that Vladimir Putin had effectively rejected the ceasefire proposal.
