Putin refuses full ceasefire after talks with Trump

The Russian leader declines to agree to a full month-long truce following a high-stakes phone call with Donald Trump

Vladimir Putin has agreed to a limited ceasefire against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, but the Russian leader declined to commit to a month-long full truce, after a high-stakes phone call with Donald Trump.

A statement said Putin had issued an order to the Russian military to suspend strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. 

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said late on Tuesday that he would support a US proposal for a limited ceasefire aimed at halting attacks on each side’s energy infrastructure.

If upheld by both sides, a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure would mark the first partial ceasefire in more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

But Putin again pushed back against Trump’s much sought-after plan for an immediate 30-day total ceasefire, which Ukraine agreed to last week, denting hopes of the US president’s plan bringing a quick end to hostilities.

On his Truth Social platform, Trump described the conversation with Putin as “a very good and productive one”, writing: “We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine.”

The US president added: “Many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelenskyy would like to see it end. That process is now in full force and effect, and we will, hopefully, for the sake of Humanity, get the job done!”

A White House statement said Washington and Moscow had also agreed to begin negotiations on the “implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace”.

“These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” the White House said.

During the call with Trump that lasted two and a half hours, Putin reiterated his concerns over a range of issues that he said must be addressed before the fighting could end, according to the Kremlin statement.

The “series of significant issues” included how such a ceasefire would be enforced and whether it would give Ukraine an opportunity to strengthen its forces and receive western military aid, it said.

Russia has given no indication that it plans to halt its own regrouping during the ceasefire, fueling fears in Kyiv that Putin may use the pause to prepare for further hostilities. 

The Kremlin’s account of the call said Putin set several maximalist conditions for a lasting ceasefire, including the suspension of western arms and intelligence support for Ukraine. Putin also demanded that Ukraine halt the mobilisation of new recruits.

“It was emphasised that a key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means must be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said.

People inspect energy infrastructure damaged by Russian shelling in March 2024, at an undisclosed location in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine. Photograph: Igor Tkachenko/EPA

There was also no indication that Putin had abandoned any of his most hardline objectives in the war in Ukraine. He told Trump that peace talks must “take into account the unconditional necessity to remove the initial reasons for the crisis and Russia’s legal security interests”.

In recent statements, Putin outlined these demands, which include a commitment to keeping Kyiv out of Nato, the demilitarisation of Ukraine, and full control over the four regions Moscow annexed in 2022 – effectively undermining Ukraine’s independence.

Russia’s maximalist demands will put Trump in a tough position, as he has pledged to secure both sides’ agreement on an immediate 30-day halt to the fighting before working out the details of a longer-term settlement.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy said he hoped to speak to Trump about his talks with Putin.

“I think it will be right that we will have a conversation with President Trump and we will know in detail what the Russians offered the Americans or what the Americans offered the Russians,” Zelenskyy told reporters during an online briefing. 

Some of Trump’s recent remarks have raised concerns that the US may prioritise securing a deal over protecting Kyiv’s interests. Ahead of the call, he posted on Truth Social that “many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains”.

Europe would be uneasy about a suspension of all weapons deliveries to Ukraine as the UK and EU are stepping up efforts to deliver fresh military aid packages to Kyiv as soon as possible.

At a news conference in Berlin with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, the outgoing German chancellor, called an end to Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure “a good start” but stressed that “there cannot be an agreement without Ukraine”.

“The next step must be a complete ceasefire for Ukraine and as quickly as possible,” he said.

Before the call, Trump said Russian and American negotiators had already talked about “dividing up certain assets”.

“We’re doing pretty well, I think, with Russia,” Trump said on Sunday, adding that he thought there was a very good chance of reaching a ceasefire.

Trump’s rhetoric on dividing territory has echoes of the 1945 Yalta conference, where Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt divided Europe between the American-aligned west and the Soviet-controlled east.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, was quick to dismiss such comparisons on Tuesday, saying that global restructuring and a “new Yalta” were not on the agenda.

The US outlet Semafor reported on Monday that the White House was considering officially recognising Crimea – annexed by Moscow in 2014 – as Russian territory as part of a potential peace deal. Washington is also reportedly discussing the possibility of putting pressure on the UN to follow suit, it said.

In Moscow, senior Russian officials openly signalled their satisfaction with Putin’s conversation with Trump.

“It is official now – a PERFECT call,” Kirill Dmitriev, a senior aide close to Putin, wrote on X.

Dmitriev, earlier in the day said he expected to hold talks with Elon Musk soon about potential Mars missions.

He said Moscow was eager to collaborate with the SpaceX CEO as part of broader efforts to strengthen Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, and state nuclear corporation, Rosatom.

Russian and US officials have expressed interest in restoring economic cooperation once peace is achieved in Ukraine.

Despite Trump’s optimism that a solution to the war was within reach, longtime observers remained widely skeptical.Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, wrote on X: “So, I hope we can finally lay to rest this absurd myth that Putin wants peace and Zelenskyy does not. Zelenskyy agreed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. Putin rejected that today.”