American President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, in a post on Truth Social, that his discussion with Vladimir Putin „was very good and productive.”
But the White House statement regarding the conversation with Putin represents a retreat by the Trump administration from the position it held just a week ago, BBC comments.
"We agreed to an immediate ceasefire regarding energy and infrastructure, plus an understanding that we will quickly work to have a ceasefire and, ultimately, an end to this very horrible war," wrote Donald Trump on Truth Social. In his comment, he reiterated the statement - which he often makes - that this war would never have started if he had been president.
- Trump and Putin discussed the war in Ukraine. The Russian president ordered a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure
- Zelenski wants to talk to Trump to get details about the discussion with Putin
- Macron says ceasefire must be verifiable, and Ukrainians must sit at the negotiating table
"Many elements of a Peace Deal were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed and both President Putin and President Zelenski would like to see it end," Trump wrote. "This process is now in full force and effect," Trump maintains. "We will succeed, hopefully, for the sake of humanity, to get the job done," concludes the White House chief in the post.
The position it held just a week ago
However, the statement issued by the White House after Trump's conversation with Putin represents a retreat by the Trump administration from the position it held just a week ago. When the US delegation met with the Ukrainians in Jeddah last Tuesday, Washington obtained Kiev's agreement to their proposal for an "immediate" ceasefire for 30 days. The US stated at that time that the "ball" is now in Russia's "court." However, this request has now disappeared from the White House's language.
Instead, the White House states that the "move toward peace" will begin with "a ceasefire in the energy and infrastructure sector," before discussions on expanding it to additional de-escalation measures and a complete ceasefire.
The Trump administration will mark this as significant progress, but Ukraine will likely see it as just Putin's stalling tactic, notes BBC.
The White House statement regarding Trump's conversation with Putin suggests that the American president has abandoned his request for an immediate land, air, and sea ceasefire. Instead, Putin agreed to halt long-range missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. This was actually a Ukrainian proposal that the Americans bypassed a week ago.
Power play
Vladimir Putin's phone call with Donald Trump is a "power play" by the Russian president, who "is not in a hurry" and "is in control of the situation," confirmed former Trump adviser for Russia, Fiona Hill.
Speaking on the BBC's Ukrainecast podcast, Hill, who served on the National Security Council as a Russia adviser during the first Trump administration, stated that "the United States has actually already offered him [Putin] a big deal, it seems. And he's not willing to make any major concessions."
Pressed to say whether a ceasefire in the energy and infrastructure sector is just a concession, Hill said, "this is the kind of concession that Putin always makes. Putin's idea of negotiation is to start a fight with you, beat you up, and then say he won't beat you up anymore," commented Fiona Hill.
Although Putin confirmed to Trump his "principled commitment" to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, he also presented Russia's conditions, as suggested by the Kremlin's statement following the two leaders' phone call.
According to the Kremlin, Putin told Trump that a "key condition" for preventing the escalation of the conflict "should be a complete cessation of foreign military aid and information exchange with Kiev."
Putin throws the ball back into Kiev's court
Putin also spoke about the "need to stop the forced mobilization in Ukraine and the rearmament of the Ukrainian armed forces."
Any resolution "should be comprehensive, stable, and long-term" and must "take into account the absolute need to eliminate the deep-rooted causes of the crisis," as stated in the Kremlin's communication. As known, one of the "causes" of the crisis in Moscow's view is NATO expansion. Moreover, the Kremlin conveyed, a settlement must consider "Russia's legitimate interests in security."
Trump and Putin also seem to have agreed on immediate technical discussions for a longer-term agreement. The Kremlin stated that this understanding should be "comprehensive, stable, and long-term." However, BBC notes, it is unclear whether this means further discussions between the US and Russia or bilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
But, crucially, Putin has put forward a major condition - one that is existential for Ukraine. The Kremlin's statement indicates that an essential condition for "preventing the escalation of the conflict and working on its resolution" should be a "complete cessation of foreign military aid and information exchange with Kiev," BBC highlights.
And Putin has already tested Trump's willingness to cut off US support for Ukraine and is now trying to get him to repeat it - while at the same time throwing the ball back into Kiev's court to agree to a much more limited ceasefire than what Trump demanded, concludes BBC.