Putin Agrees to Infrastructure Ceasefire After Call with Trump

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke with President Donald Trump on the phone for over two hours on Tuesday, as the two heads of state sought to hammer out a compromise that could serve as the beginning of a peace deal in Ukraine. Putin declined to accept a full ceasefire and instead accepted an agreement for both parties to end strikes on infrastructure.

Trump already extracted an agreement for a 30-day ceasefire from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and had suggested that he believed such an agreement would be signed off on by Putin. 

According to the White House, the two leaders also discussed “the need for improved bilateral relations between the U.S. and Russia” and a framework for eventually achieving “a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace.”

Putin also reiterated his conditions for a peace settlement, which include an end to American military assistance to Ukraine, a permanent end to Ukrainian NATO membership prospects, and new elections, which may prove unacceptable to the Ukrainian government.