President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine agreed in a Wednesday phone call with President Trump to accept Russia’s offer of a mutual pause in attacks on energy targets for 30 days as a step toward a broader cease-fire.
It was not immediately clear how or when a pause in strikes on certain targets would take hold. “Everything will continue to fly,” Mr. Zelensky said in a later news conference from Finland, until “there is an appropriate document” negotiating terms. He added that Russian drones were in the air in Ukraine as he spoke.
During the call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky, the American president floated the idea of the United States possibly taking control of Ukrainian power plants, according to an official U.S. statement; it was a new idea that Ukrainian energy experts said was probably unworkable.
Mr. Zelensky later elaborated during his news conference that he felt he faced “no pressure” from Mr. Trump about that idea, saying it was limited to one plant. He added that the call with Mr. Trump was “the most substantive in recent times” and that the list of targets protected from strikes in a partial cease-fire could be expansive.
But any agreement restricted to energy targets between Mr. Zelensky and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would leave a wide chasm between their positions on how the war could end. And Mr. Zelensky has characterized some of the Russian leader’s proposals as stalling tactics as he maneuvers for military advantage and the best possible deal from the American president.
A joint statement from Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Waltz, and the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said technical teams would meet in Saudi Arabia “in the coming days” to discuss broadening the cease-fire on energy sites to one covering activity in the Black Sea, “on the way to a full cease-fire.”
Wednesday was the first time Mr. Trump and Mr. Zelensky had spoken since a dramatic confrontation in the Oval Office last month.
During that meeting, Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Mr. Zelensky for showing insufficient gratitude for American support — most of it delivered under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The Trump administration temporarily suspended all military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine in the aftermath of the meeting, and Mr. Zelensky has since sought to smooth over relations.
Wednesday’s statements from Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Trump and his national security officials suggested that efforts to make amends had produced results.
Mr. Trump said his conversation with Mr. Zelensky had been “very good” and lasted about an hour. The joint statement from Mr. Waltz and Mr. Rubio said the talk had “significantly helped in moving toward ending the war.”
Mr. Zelensky called the conversation “positive, very substantive and frank,” making clear that he had thanked Mr. Trump for America’s support.
But the idea of the United States owning any of Ukraine’s electrical and nuclear facilities could present myriad difficulties, and the two sides did not seem in sync about what plants were at issue.
Mr. Zelensky suggested the idea was limited to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is currently controlled by Russia.
“The question was exclusively about the station under temporary occupation,” Mr. Zelensky said.
The statement from Mr. Rubio and Mr. Waltz, however, referred to “Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” and said the United States could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise.”
In the next sentence, they suggested that Ukraine should sell or transfer ownership of those facilities — plural — to the United States, much as they have demanded a partial interest in Ukraine’s minerals. And they offered the same argument as in the minerals case: that the American stake would make Russia less likely to attack them.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure support for Ukrainian infrastructure,” Mr. Rubio and Mr. Waltz said.
Olga Kosharna, a Ukrainian nuclear energy expert, said such plants cannot be privatized under Ukrainian law. Other experts were also skeptical of the plan, but noted that U.S. involvement could help improve management at the plants.
Mr. Putin rejected an earlier proposal for a comprehensive 30-day cease-fire covering land, sea and air. Under pressure from Mr. Trump, Ukraine’s government agreed to that idea during a meeting with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, despite Kyiv’s deep misgivings about bargaining with Mr. Putin.
Mr. Putin raised multiple objections to that idea, however, and countered with the narrow plan to protect energy sites.
Many analysts argue that such an agreement would mainly benefit Moscow, whose oil refineries have come under increasingly heavy long-range Ukrainian attacks. And while Russian strikes have wreaked havoc on Ukraine’s energy supplies, Ukraine has learned to adapt over three years of war and will depend much less on heat in the coming weeks than it did in winter.
Insisting that the broader talks are “very much on track,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post on Wednesday that his talk with Mr. Zelensky was “based on the call” he had with Mr. Putin the day before, “in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs.”
Mr. Trump’s efforts to broker a deal have put Mr. Zelensky in an awkward position. The Ukrainian leader fears that in his eagerness for a deal with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump might force Ukraine into unwanted concessions. Mr. Zelensky also finds himself targeted by Trump officials and allies who have accused him of obstructing peace and who have threatened to force him from office.
Mr. Zelensky has little leverage, given that U.S. military and economic support is critical to his country’s ability to fend off the Russians, so he has done his best to accommodate Mr. Trump. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian president said that the limited cease-fire would need U.S. monitoring to work.
“Just the assertion and the word of Putin that he will not strike energy sites is too little,” Mr. Zelensky said. “War has made us practical people.”
Ukraine would prepare a list of sites to be protected, he said at a news conference in Helsinki alongside Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb. If monitoring confirmed that “Russia doesn’t strike our objects,” Mr. Zelensky added, “we will not strike theirs.”
Underscoring the lack of trust between Ukraine and Russia, the two countries traded accusations on Wednesday about attacks against each other’s energy infrastructure.
Ukraine’s European allies have cautiously welcomed any moves toward a cease-fire, while pledging further support for Kyiv and echoing concerns about Russia’s conditions.
“It’s a yes or a no: No buts, no conditions,” Mr. Stubb said. “Ukraine accepted a cease-fire without any form of conditions. If Russia refuses to agree, we need to increase our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and to ratchet up pressure on Russia.”
It was clear by the end of the day that the global diplomacy around Ukraine’s fate would continue at an intense pace.
Mr. Zelensky spoke again from Finland on Wednesday evening, in an online discussion that was briefly interrupted when he received a call from yet another world leader. President Emmanuel Macron of France was on the line. Mr. Zelensky told him he was busy and would have to call him back.
David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington; Constant Méheut from Kyiv, Ukraine; Anastasia Kuznietsova from Mantua, Italy; and Johanna Lemola from Helsinki.
