‘We are very much on track’: Trump says had a ‘very good’ hour-long call with Zelenskyy

“We are very much on track,” Trump added, saying he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to provide further details of the conversation in a forthcoming statement.

During Trump’s discussion with Putin on Tuesday, the Russian leader agreed not to target energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire.

Prior to his call with Trump, Zelenskyy criticised Putin’s ceasefire pledge as “very much at odds with reality,” citing a massive overnight drone assault on Ukraine. “Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with … Trump, when Putin said that he was allegedly giving orders to stop strikes on Ukrainian energy, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Helsinki alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of failing to uphold its side of the agreement. “Unfortunately, we see that for now there is no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv regime,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, claiming Russia had halted strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure while Kyiv targeted equipment near a Russian pipeline.

The White House described the Trump-Putin call as the first step in a “movement to peace,” with hopes of securing a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and ultimately a lasting end to the war. However, there was no indication that Putin had softened his conditions for a peace deal—terms that Kyiv continues to reject.

(With Inputs from AP)

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