Putin agrees to partial ceasefire and prisoner exchange with Ukraine as peace talks to begin 'immediately'

18 Mar 2025, 22:45 by AFP, https://www.thejournal.ie/author/afp/ · TheJournal.ie

LAST UPDATE | 19 hrs ago

US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone conversation this afternoon, where the two leaders outlined that talks to end the conflict in Ukraine will begin “immediately”.

During the call, the leaders discussed the ongoing Russian invasion, agreeing that the “movement to peace” will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Both the Kremlin and White House confirmed this afternoon that Putin has agreed to pause strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days during the call.

Trump proposed the 30-day halt on strikes on energy targets and “Vladimir Putin responded positively and immediately gave the Russian military a corresponding command”, a statement from the Kremlin said.

Russian officials also stated that Russia and Ukraine will swap 175 prisoners of war (POWs) each tomorrow.

Trump and Putin agreed to ‘technical negotiations’ on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a full ceasefire and permanent peace.

“These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,” US officials said.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said in a statement on X that the two leaders stated that “a future with an improved bilateral relationship” between the United States and Russia has “huge upside”.

“This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved,” Leavitt added.

Putin set out Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire during the call, including that Ukraine not be allowed to rearm, the Kremlin said.

“The Russian side has outlined a number of essential points concerning effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire contact line and the need to halt both forced mobilisation in Ukraine and the rearmament of the Ukrainian armed forces,” Russian officials said in a statement.

They added that Putin had said that a key condition of peace negotiations “should be a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence” to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was favourable to the US-proposed truce on strikes against energy infrastructure endorsed by Russia, but needed more “details” from Washington first.

Speaking after the call, Zelenskyy also warned in an online briefing that Putin wanted to “weaken” Ukraine and was “not ready to end this war”.

“After we get the details from the US president, from the US side, we will give our answer,” he told reporters of the energy truce.

“Our side will maintain it” as long as Moscow abides by it, he said, adding that the US should be “guarantors of control over the implementation”.

“I think it would be right if we would have a conversation with President Trump and know the details of what the Russians offered the Americans or what the Americans offered the Russians,” Zelenskyy said.

The leader added that Ukrainian troops would continue fighting in Russia’s Kursk region “as long as we need”, following days of major Russian advances in the area.

Ukraine launched an offensive into the Kursk region last year in retaliation for an invasion that has seen Russian troops occupy swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.

‘Very important call’

Ahead of the call, both sides expressed optimism about recent talks between Washington and Moscow but agreed that only a top-level call could resolve the toughest sticking points on a 30-day truce.

Trump said over the weekend that he and Putin would discuss “dividing up certain assets” including land and power plants: an apparent reference to the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in south Ukraine, Europe’s largest.

Ukraine has agreed to the ceasefire terms – yet both Kyiv and European leaders are skeptical that Putin may be stalling, and wonder whether Trump is willing to use leverage against a leader with whom he seems intent on restoring ties.

“We’re going to have a very important call,” Trump told reporters yesterday. “We’re getting down to a very critical stage.”

Trump added later on his Truth Social network that “many elements of a final agreement have been agreed to, but much remains.”

“I look very much forward to the call with President Putin,” he said.

US-Ukraine split

Trump’s return to the White House has seen a total upending of US policy on Ukraine.

The US president stunned the world when he announced last month that he had spoken to Putin, in a call that broke Western efforts to isolate the Russian leader as long as his forces keep up their Ukraine invasion.

He has since said that he has spoken “numerous times” to the Russian leader, for whom he has repeatedly expressed admiration in the past, though none was officially announced.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff held a three-hour meeting with Putin last Thursday in Moscow to present the details of the joint ceasefire plan, which envisages a 30-day pause in hostilities.

But as Washington’s relations with Moscow have thawed, its ties with Ukraine have become far more complicated.

Trump had a televised shouting match with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on 28 February which led to the United States temporarily suspending its billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv.

Zelenskyy later relented and agreed to both the ceasefire plan and a deal to give the United States preferential access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral deposits.