Russia bombed Ukraine energy infrastructure just hours after Vladimir Putin told Donald Trump he would halt attacks on the grid.
Putin’s forces conducted an airstrike on the energy infrastructure of Slovyansk, a city of 100,000 people in the Donetsk region, according to local reports, leaving part of the city without electricity.
It comes after Putin rejected Mr Trump’s proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, instead agreeing to a 30-day pause in attacks on energy and infrastructure.
Putin ordered the Russian military to halt attacks on energy plants in Ukraine without delay, the Kremlin said after the “frank” 90-minute phone call ended. Soon after the call, air raid sirens wailed and explosions rang out in Ukraine.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said ceasefire talks would continue on Sunday in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.
The Kremlin has said the “complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv” is a condition for any permanent peace deal. Ukraine, and much of Europe, is highly unlikely to agree to this.
Trump and Putin had a lengthy telephone call in which they discussed the ongoing Russian war with Ukraine.
However, there were some differences between the statements released by the White House and the Kremlin, leading to uncertainty among observers and analysts.
In particular, Russia included several demands in its statement while the White House made no reference to them.
The White House statement is shorter than that released by the Kremlin and does not spell out the demands made by Putin to achieve a complete ceasefire. The statement includes the following:
- Both Trump and Putin have agreed that the conflict needs to end and lasting peace needs to be established. “The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people,” the statement reads.
- The US and Russia will expand their bilateral relationship.
- While the move towards peace will begin with a halt on targeting energy infrastructure, technical negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East on bringing maritime peace to the Black Sea, as well as a full ceasefire and permanent peace. A specific location was not given for these talks, but in February and March, mediators from the US separately met representatives from Russia and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.
- The two leaders discussed cooperating on their approach to the Middle East to prevent future conflicts and agreed that “Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel”.
According to the Kremlin statement, Putin laid down a series of conditions to be met before the parties can advance towards a ceasefire across the Russia-Ukraine front line. The Kremlin’s statement included the following:
- Putin expressed gratitude to Trump for his desire to help end the war. The US and Russia will work on improving bilateral ties.
- Putin has agreed to Trump’s request for a 30-day pause on attacks on energy infrastructure and immediately commanded the Russian military to follow through.
- The Russian president expressed a fundamental commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine war in collaboration with his US partners, which would be long-term and sustainable. Russian and US expert groups are being created to work out terms for a settlement in Ukraine.
- To achieve a ceasefire across the line of contact, Moscow raised concerns about the rearmament of Ukrainian forces, as well as “forced mobilisation”, referring to claims that Ukrainian men have been rounded up and forced to enlist in the army.
- The statement claimed that “barbaric terrorist crimes” had been committed by the Ukrainian army against civilians in Kursk.
- It also stated that the key condition to resolving the conflict would be a “complete cessation” of foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The statement does not specify whether this would apply to aid sent by just the US or other allies of Ukraine as well.
- In response to Trump’s appeal to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk, Putin said Russia is ready to guarantee the lives and decent treatment of Ukrainian troops in accordance with Russian and international law if they surrender.
- There will be negotiations between the US and Russia to work out specifics for a ceasefire in the Black Sea. The Russian statement did not specify whether Ukraine or other European nations would be included.
- A prisoner exchange will take place on Wednesday, through which 175 Russians and 175 Ukrainians will be released. Additionally, 23 injured Ukrainian servicemen who are receiving treatment in Russian medical facilities will be handed over. (There has so far been no news of such a swap taking place).
- The US and Russia will make combined efforts to stabilise the situation in the Middle East.
The Ukrainian president said Kyiv would support any attempt to bring peace to the region, but added that he wished to see specific details from Trump.
“We need to understand what exactly we support,” he said in a video message.
Calling Trump a “busy man”, Zelenskyy continued, “when [Trump] has time, he can call me any time … we are ready to talk through further steps.”
In reference to Putin’s demands for a cessation of military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, Zelenskyy, during a news conference with Finland’s President Alexander Stubb on Wednesday, said: “I do not believe that we should make any concessions in terms of assistance for Ukraine, but rather there should be an increase in assistance for Ukraine.”
US President Donald Trump’s phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, didn’t take a tangible step towards ending the hostilities in Ukraine.
For starters, Putin sent a signal by making Trump wait for more than an hour to talk. Putin was speaking at a televised conference with Russian businesspeople and even made a joke about the delay when told the time for his call was approaching.
This was clearly designed to show his alpha status, both to Trump and the Russian public. Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, was reportedly made to wait eight hours by Putin when he arrived in Moscow last week for talks.
Trump has already given away huge bargaining chips that could have been used to pressure Russia towards a just and enduring outcome. These include:
- holding talks with Russia without Ukraine present
- ruling out security guarantees for Ukraine and NATO membership in the longer term, and
- foreshadowing that Ukraine should cede its sovereign territory in defiance of international law.
Putin may be content to string out the ceasefire talks as long as he can in the hopes Russian troops can consolidate their hold on Ukrainian territory and completely expel Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region inside Russia.
– Additional reports from Telegraph, Al Jazeera.
