President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed on Wednesday to work towards ending Russia's war with Ukraine, as senior US officials suggested that Washington should take ownership of Ukrainian power plants.
In their first conversation since Mr Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly scolded Mr Zelenskyy last month at the White House, the Ukrainian leader thanked Mr Trump for US support and the two leaders agreed that technical teams would meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days.
During an hour-long call, Mr Zelenskyy asked Mr Trump for more air defence support to protect his country against Russian attacks and the US President said he would help to find the necessary military equipment in Europe, the White House said.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said much of the discussion focused on the call he had with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. “We are very much on track,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz issued a joint statement saying the presidents discussed the situation in Kursk, a part of western Russia that had been captured by Ukraine but which Russia has now mostly retaken.
They “agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”, the statement read.
For most of the past three years, Russia has relentlessly pounding Ukraine's power grid, saying civilian infrastructure is a legitimate target because it aids Kyiv's fighting capabilities. Ukrainians say such attacks have subsided in recent months.
Kyiv has steadily developed the ability to launch long-range attacks into Russia, frequently using drones to attack distant oil and gas sites, which it says provide fuel for Russia's troops and income to fund the war.
Mr Rubio and Mr Waltz said the US could be “helpful” in running Ukrainian electrical and nuclear power plants and suggested the US should own them.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” they said in the statement.
Mr Zelenskyy said on X that his conversation with Mr Trump was “positive, very substantive and frank”. He confirmed Kyiv's readiness to halt strikes on Russian infrastructure and its commitment to an unconditional front-line ceasefire, as the US proposed earlier.
“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote.
In Mr Trump's phone call with Mr Putin, the leaders agreed to seek an energy infrastructure ceasefire. But early on Wednesday, Russia and Ukraine accused each other of launching air attacks that led to fires and damaged infrastructure.
Last week, Ukraine agreed to a 30-day truce proposed by the US during negotiations between American and Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration now wants Russia to agree to sign the agreement. Discussions are expected to continue in the coming days in Jeddah.
Willy Lowry contributed to this report from Washington
