Donald Trump says he's had a "very good" phone call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy — their first conversation since the US president publicly scolded his Ukrainian counterpart and ordered him out of the White House three weeks ago.
The pair spoke a day after Mr Trump's call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rejected a US-proposed 30-day ceasefire plan but agreed to suspend attacks on Ukrainian power infrastructure while talks continue.
Mr Trump assured Mr Zelenskyy intelligence sharing between their two nations would continue, the White House said afterwards. That's despite Russia demanding an end to intelligence sharing as a "key condition" of any future full ceasefire.
"Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine," Mr Trump posted online on Wednesday morning, local time.
"It lasted approximately one hour. Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. We are very much on track."
The pair also discussed the possibility of the US taking ownership of Ukraine's power plants. "American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure," a White House statement said.
Mr Zelenskyy did not mention a US takeover of power plants in his recount of the call, which he described as positive, substantive and frank.
But he reiterated Ukraine's willingness to accept America's full ceasefire proposal, and accepted Mr Trump's plan for a 30-day pause on attacks on energy infrastructure.
"One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure," Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X.
"I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it."
However, that agreement, which Mr Putin committed to instead of accepting the full ceasefire proposal on Tuesday, is already in question.
Continuing strikes
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy used a news conference in Finland to accuse Russia of breaking the deal just hours after Mr Putin committed to it.
"Putin's words are very much at odds with reality," Mr Zelenskyy said.
"There were 150 drones overnight, targeting energy infrastructure among other things," he said, adding that two hospitals had also been hit.
During Wednesday's phone call, Mr Zelenskyy asked Mr Trump for additional air defence systems, particularly Patriot missiles, the White House said. Mr Trump "agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe".
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov defended Russia's latest attacks on energy infrastructure. He said there had already been seven drones in the air en route towards Ukrainian energy targets at the time Mr Putin agreed to cease such attacks.
The Russian state-run media outlet RIA Novosti reported accusations from the country's defence ministry that Ukraine had used drones to attack an oil storage facility in Krasnodar, in the country's south.
Over the course of the war, Ukraine has been able to effectively target critical energy infrastructure deep inside Russian territory with its drones.
Stumbling blocks
During his election campaign last year Mr Trump claimed he would be able to "end the war in a day" on multiple occasions, but doing so is proving more difficult.
While the Kremlin and White House released upbeat statements after Tuesday's phone call between the presidents, Mr Putin ruled out an immediate ceasefire and outlined several deal-breakers.
Among the biggest stumbling blocks is a demand that foreign countries stop arming and providing intelligence to Ukraine.
This week, Ukraine appeared in danger of losing one of its bargaining chips after its forces continued to lose ground in Russia's Kursk region.
They has been steadily pushed back from the area in recent weeks by Mr Putin's forces, after occupying hundreds of square kilometres of land for months following a surprise attack in August last year.
Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum at London-based international affairs think tank Chatham House, said it was important for Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Trump to restore direct communications.
"Especially after this horrific performance and pressure that Trump's team put on Zelenskyy in the White House, humiliating him publicly," she said.
On Wednesday, the countries also exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war, although similar swaps have happened multiple times throughout the conflict.
