Trump, Putin agree on 30-day energy truce – DW – 03/18/2025

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was awaiting more details from Washington before determining their response to the limited ceasefire deal on the table.

“After we get the details from the US president, from the US side, we will give our answer,” Zelenksyy told reporters in Finland, adding that the US should act as “guarantors” and “our side will maintain it” as long as Russia sticks to it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump agreed during a lengthy phone call earlier in the day to an immediate pause in strikes against energy and infrastructure targets in the Ukraine war.

But Putin stopped short of agreeing to a broader ceasefire that the US sought and that called for a halt to fighting for 30 days so a longer ceasefire agreement could be hammered out.

“They are not ready to end this war, and we can see that. They are not ready even for the first step, which is a ceasefire,” Zelenkyy said, adding that Putin sought to “weaken” Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump said that his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been “a very good and productive” one.

“We agreed to an immediate ceasefire on all energy and infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a complete ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible war between Russia and Ukraine,” he wrote in a post on his Truth social network.

Trump added that many elements of “a contract for peace” have been discussed, and “that process is now in full force and effect.”

Ukrainian officials have yet to comment on the phone call between Trump and Putin.

Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called an energy infrastructure ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia agreed by US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin an important first step, but said a complete ceasefire must come next.

“The next step must be a complete ceasefire for Ukraine and as quickly as possible. Of course it is clear that we both agree on this too,” said Scholz at a news conference in Berlin with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Scholz also reiterated that no decision should be made without Ukraine’s involvement.

The leaders of Germany and France vowed to continue providing military aid to Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “complete cessation” of Western military assistance in a phone call with Trump.

“We both agree that Ukraine can count on us, that Ukraine can count on Europe and that we will not let (Kyiv) down,” Scholz said.

Macron added: “We will continue to support the Ukrainian army in its war of resistance against Russian aggression.”

Russia and Ukraine will exchange 175 prisoners of war each on Wednesday following a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, the Kremlin said.

“Vladimir Putin said that on March 19 the Russian and Ukrainian sides will exchange prisoners — 175 for 175 people,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.

Putin also told Trump that Russia would transfer 23 severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers to Ukraine as a goodwill gesture, according to a readout.

Ukraine has not yet confirmed the prisoner exchange.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call that Russia and Ukraine stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure for 30 days and gave the Russian military an order to do so.

The Kremlin also said in a statement that the two leaders discussed a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, to which Ukraine agreed last week. 

According to the Kremlin said Putin had raised “significant points” about monitoring such a truce and preventing it from being used by Ukraine to mobilize more soldiers and rearm itself.

“It was emphasized that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution by political and diplomatic means should be a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said.

Meanwhile, the White House said that Trump and Putin agreed that the war between Russia and Ukraine needs to end with a “lasting peace” and that talks to achieve that goal will begin immediately.

“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,” the White House said in a statement about the call. “These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska has arrived in Helsinki ahead of an official visit to Finland that begins Wednesday.

“Meetings will be held with President Alexander Stubb and First Lady Suzanne Innes-Stubb, Speaker Jussi Halla-aho and members of Parliament, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, government officials, and representatives of defense companies,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media.

Meanwhile, the office of Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the two presidents will discuss Finland’s support for Ukraine, including steps to end Russia’s war, and meet with defense industry companies.

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have finished their phone conversation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, without giving details. A White House official also confirmed that the call was over.

Two leaders already had a lengthy telephone conversation on February 12.

Meanwhile, Kirill Dmitriev, who was appointed by Putin last month as his special envoy for international economic and investment cooperation, claimed that the world has become much safer under the leadership of Putin and Trump.

A telephone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been ongoing since 10 a.m. Washington time (1400 UTC), according to a White House official.

“The call is going well, and still in progress,” Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff, wrote in a post on social media platform X. 

The Kremlin earlier said that the call would last as long as was deemed necessary.

US President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with Russia’s Vladimir Putin today. The Russian leader has not yet agreed to a US-backed ceasefire proposal.

In Ukraine, soldiers and civilians alike are anxiously awaiting his response.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to US President Donald Trump ahead of his expected meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“The prime minister updated the president on his coalition of the willing call … He reiterated that all must work together to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to secure a just and lasting peace,” a spokesperson for Starmer said on Tuesday afternoon.

The call took place late on Monday.

Starmer has been drumming up support among global leaders in a “coalition of the willing” and has sought concrete commitments to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to the war in Ukraine.

German Chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, said that €3 billion ($3.3 billion) in additional aid for Ukraine could be released by Friday.

Merz made his comments at a meeting of the parliamentary group of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Berlin on Tuesday morning, German news agency DPA reported, citing participants at the meeting.

Germany’s Bundestag is on Tuesday voting over whether to relax fiscal rules to ease Germany’s long-standing debt brake.

The money for Ukraine would flow after the vote in the lower house of parliament.

Merz’s center-right CDU, Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens are optimistic that the necessary two-thirds majority will be achieved in Tuesday’s vote.

Europe’s satellite operator Eutelsat said it has “perfect coverage” over Ukraine, amid concern that Elon Musk’s Starlink could possibly pull the plug on service in Ukraine.

Musk has called his satellite-internet service the “backbone of the Ukrainian army” fighting Russia and said “their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.”

Eutelsat’s CEO Eva Berneke said the world’s second-largest low-orbit operator was “the only alternative” and despite “less capacity” than Starlink for now, had “perfect coverage” over Ukraine.

“I don’t think that’s a big problem… for important military requirements, the capacity we have today in Ukraine is more than enough,” AFP news agency quoted Berneke as saying.

Berneke said that her company needs fewer satellites to provide the same capacity, due to its orbiters’ greater distance from the Earth’s surface, she added.

Another concern, however, is the dependency on Musk’s SpaceX to launch new satellites.

SpaceX “provides around 90% of capacity in the launch market”, Berneke noted, adding that Eutelsat was “very likely” to remain a customer.

The defense ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have announced plans to withdraw from the Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel mines amid security concerns since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Military threats to NATO Member States bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,” the ministers said in a statement.

“In the current security environment it is paramount to provide our defence forces flexibility and freedom of choice to potentially use new weapons systems and solutions to bolster the defence of the Alliance’s vulnerable Eastern flank,” the ministers said.

Last week, the countries, along with Finland, said they were “close” to an agreement on withdrawing from the treaty.

The treaty — signed by more than 160 countries and territories, including Ukraine, but not by the United States or Russia — bans signatories from acquiring, producing, stockpiling or using anti-personnel mines.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine was not an impediment to a peace agreement with Russia and spoke of lasting peace under the leadership of US President Donald Trump.

“We are not the obstacle to achieving peace. … We really expect from [the] Russian side [an] unconditional yes for ceasefire,” Sybiha said during a conference in New Delhi.

“Our approach: Now is a time for diplomacy, for a strong diplomacy,” he said. “We also really believe that, with [the] leadership of President Trump, we could achieve long-lasting, just peace.”

Though Ukraine is open to diplomatic solutions, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted that the sovereignty of his country is not negotiable and that Russia must relinquish the territory it has seized.

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and now controls most of four eastern Ukrainian regions since it invaded the country in 2022.

Trump and Putin are expected to talk on the phone during Moscow’s early afternoon, equivalent to the midmorning in Washington, DC.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was already “a certain understanding” between Trump and Putin based on a call on February 12.

“But there are also a large number of questions regarding the further normalization of our bilateral relations and a settlement on Ukraine. All of this will have to be discussed by the two presidents,” Peskov said.

“The leaders will speak for as long as they deem necessary,” he said.

European allies and Ukraine will be watching developments closely from the sidelines.

“Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday. 
“Thousands of young soldiers, and others, are being killed. Each week brings 2,500 soldier deaths, from both sides, and it must end NOW. I look very much forward to the call with President Putin,” Trump wrote.