Russia agrees to a 30-day pause in attacks on energy-related infrastructure in Ukraine

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a nearly three-hour phone call Tuesday focused on the end of the Ukraine-Russia war. The result was a partial ceasefire, the White House said.

Both the White House and the Kremlin appeared pleased with the phone call’s results, Newsweek reported.

“Under the leadership of President Putin and President Trump, the world has become a much safer place today!” Russian official Kirill Dmitriev, posted to X after the call.

Russia’s terms for peace

No long-term ceasefire deal appeared to emerge from the phone call, but the White House informed the media that a break in the fighting will begin by ending attacks on energy infrastructure, per The Hill.

Putin agreed to a proposal put forth by Trump to pause such attacks for 30 days.

“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 to reporters. The statement added that negotiations are expected to begin immediately.

Though readouts from the phone call did not mention division of assets, Trump has previously stated that control of land, including the fate of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia plant, might be a part of the peace deal, per AP News.

The plant Zaporizhzia produced nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity in the year before the war began in 2022. Russia seized it shortly afterward. Since then, the United Nations has expressed fear that conflict raging around the plant might end in a nuclear disaster.

Notably, the Tuesday phone call between Trump and Putin also mentioned ending the spread of “strategic weapons.” In the past, Trump has indicated desire to halt the expansion of nuclear weapons.

“I can say we are on the 10th yard line of peace,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told the media. “And we’ve never been closer to a peace deal than we are in this moment. And the president, as you know, is determined to get one done.”

Prior to the phone call, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the conversation would focus on the war in Ukraine, but also include a “large number of questions” about the relationship between the United States and Russia.

“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 told the media.

What does Ukraine think?

In a meeting on March 11 hosted by Saudi Arabia, Ukraine agreed to the terms of a U.S.-led ceasefire, the Deseret News previously reported.

At the time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed willingness to give up swaths of Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s claim to NATO membership and even relinquish the presidency of Ukraine in order to secure sustainable peace.

Zelenskyy also pledged to follow Trump’s lead when it comes to arranging the ceasefire deal, especially following the withdrawal of military and intelligence resources to Ukraine after Zelenskyy and Trump clashed over methods of resolving the conflict.

Since Zelenskyy committed to an American-planned ceasefire, the flow of such resources has resumed.

Nevertheless, the 30-day pause on attacks to infrastructure falls short of Ukraine’s hopes for the ceasefire. Ukraine had previously expressed hope for an exchange of prisoners of war and a pause on fighting in both the sea and the sky. While such deals may be forthcoming, Ukraine has also expressed concern on whether Putin will honor U.S. ceasefire terms.

“We agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with zero conditions, and if Putin is gonna start playing with Trump setting demands — it will not work,” an anonymous Ukrainian official told ABC News.