Trump Suggests US Could Run Ukraine’s Power Plants.

US President Donald Trump has held what he described as a “very good” hour-long phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, a day after speaking to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky said afterwards that he believed that “lasting peace can be achieved this year” under Trump’s leadership.

Possible US ownership of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants was also discussed, the White House said, although Zelensky later stated this was only about the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia facility.

The tone of the call seems to be in contrast to Zelensky’s visit to the White House last month, in which the two leaders – along with US Vice-President JD Vance – were involved in a tense exchange.

Wednesday marked the first time the two men have spoken since the meeting in the Oval Office – although since then, their teams have met in Saudi Arabia and negotiated a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

While it is backed by Ukraine and the US, Putin rejected the proposal for a widespread pause in the conflict during his phone call with the US president on Tuesday.

During his conversation with Trump, Zelensky said he was open to a partial ceasefire involving a halt on strikes on energy infrastructure, rail and port facilities that could be established quickly – but the Ukrainian president warned his country would retaliate if Moscow violated the terms of the ceasefire.

“I understand that until we agree [with Russia], until there is a corresponding document on even a partial ceasefire, I think that everything will fly,” he said, referring to drones and missiles.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said the call was aimed at aligning Ukraine and Russia “in terms of their requests and needs”, adding that ceasefire efforts were on track.

Later, in a more detailed statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump had agreed to help Ukraine source additional air defence systems, particularly in Europe.

The two leaders “agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”, he said.

Rubio’s statement also said Trump and Zelensky had discussed “Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants” with Trump saying “the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise”.

“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” Rubio’s statement added.

Zelensky said the topic of power plants had been raised, but that they had only mentioned the Zaporizhzhia facility.

The developments will come as a relief for Zelensky, who described his conversation with Trump as “positive”, “frank”, and “very substantive”, during an online briefing to journalists on Wednesday.

BBC