Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump clash at the White House on 28 February 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO / POOL
US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held an hour-long phone call on Wednesday, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform, the first direct contact between the two leaders since their now-infamous public clash at the White House in February.
Trump said that “much of the discussion” had been based on the results of his call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, “in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs”, which Trump said the US was “very much on track” to do.
During Tuesday’s call, Putin agreed to a 30-day moratorium on energy infrastructure attacks, but stopped short of endorsing the full interim ceasefire previously endorsed by Zelensky that would also see missile, drone, and bomb strikes suspended along the entire front line.
Despite Putin saying on Tuesday that he had given the order to halt energy infrastructure attacks, within hours of the Putin-Trump call, both sides had accused each other of violating the agreement.
Trump said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz would give “an accurate description of the points discussed” shortly.
Zelensky, who accused Putin of “effectively rejecting” the proposal for a full ceasefire on Wednesday morning, has not yet commented on the call. Meanwhile, an unnamed source told Bloomberg that Zelensky had agreed to halt attacks on Russian energy facilities, which he told Trump during the call.
