New Delhi: Russia has agreed to refrain from attacking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30-days—a partial ceasefire—after a call between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump Tuesday.
“During the conversation, Donald Trump put forward a proposal for the parties to the conflict to mutually refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order,” said a readout published by the Kremlin in Russian.
The statement added: “In the context of the US President’s initiative to introduce a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian side outlined a number of significant points concerning ensuring effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire line of combat contact, the need to stop forced mobilisation in Ukraine and rearm the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
The agreement to refrain from the attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure occurred during the second call between Putin and Trump. The American President has made ending the war between Moscow and Kyiv a central plank of his foreign policy, since assuming office earlier this year.
“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,” said Trump in a statement on his social media platform Truth Social.
Ukraine had earlier agreed unconditionally to the American proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, after a meeting between its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, earlier this month.
However, Putin said that to prevent any further escalation between Russia and Ukraine, foreign countries must cease providing arms and intelligence to Kyiv, while announcing that a prisoner exchange will be conducted Wednesday between the two countries.
Russia’s war with Ukraine has gone on for over 3 years, after Putin first announced a “special military operation” in February 2022. At the time, the US was led by President Joseph R. Biden who had promised American aid to Ukraine, and has since become a key security partner for Kyiv.
Trump has consistently claimed that the war would not have begun if he remained President, and promised to end this war on day one of his second presidency. Almost two months in, the American President has succeeded in getting both Ukraine and Russia to agree to some form of a ceasefire.
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US’ policy change on Ukraine under Trump
However, Trump’s support for Ukraine has been vastly different from Biden. In the early days of his second presidency, Trump pushed for a critical minerals deal with Ukraine, as a form of a “payback” for American aid over the last 3 years.
The deal was expected to be signed in the last week of February, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House. The meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump ended in disaster in the Oval Office. The US President cancelled all further meetings with Zelenskyy that day and did not sign the critical minerals deal.
Days later, the US suspended the transfer of arms and sharing of military intelligence to Kyiv, which had serious consequences on the frontlines. A delegation of Ukrainian officials met with US officials in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where they agreed to an unconditional ceasefire. The US lifted its suspension on military aid to Ukraine after the meeting.
However, the war in Ukraine, and the position of Trump’s administration has seen the US split with its long-term allies in Europe. On the third anniversary of the war in February, the US voted alongside Russia against a European-backed resolution in the United Nations condemning Moscow for starting the war with Ukraine.
“Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump also touched upon other issues on the international agenda, including the situation in the Middle East and the Red Sea region. Joint efforts will be made to stabilise the situation in crisis areas, establish cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and global security. This, in turn, will contribute to improving the overall atmosphere of Russian-American relations. One positive example is the joint vote in the UN on the resolution on the Ukrainian conflict,” said the Kremlin on the growing cooperation between the Trump administration and Moscow.
It remains to be seen how Kyiv accepts the new proposals made by Russia, especially Putin’s demands of the cessation of foreign military aid to Ukraine and the rearming of the Eastern European nation.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
President Trump must be appreciated for his active efforts to end this unnecessary conflict.