The White House says Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy backed a partial ceasefire in the conflict with Russia during a call with President Donald Trump, in which the U.S. president pitched American ownership of Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, reading a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Michael Waltz, told reporters that Trump told Zelenskyy the U.S. “could be very helpful with its electricity and utility expertise” and proposed American ownership of the plants as the best protection of Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“The two leaders also agreed on a partial ceasefire against energy,” she said. “Technical teams will meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to discuss broadening the ceasefire to the Black Sea on the way to a full ceasefire. They agreed this could be the first step toward the full end of the war and ensuring security.”
First talk since White House meltdown

Trump and Zelenskyy spoke for the first time since an Oval Office blowup briefly led the U.S. to halt military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv.

In a Wednesday call, the leaders discussed a partial ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine that would involve both countries refraining from attacking the other’s energy infrastructure, including nuclear power plants and oil refineries.
The White House said Zelenskyy asked for additional help with air defense and Trump agreed to help him to find additional resources, ideally in Europe. They also discussed children who had been abducted from Ukraine during the war.

“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home,” the statement said.
Trump said he spoke with Zelenskyy for roughly an hour.

“We are very much on track, and I will ask Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, to give an accurate description of the points discussed,” he said.
Kyiv previously agreed to a U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire with Moscow. Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, instead endorsed a more limited truce during a Tuesday call with Trump.

Trump and Putin spoke for more than 90 minutes Tuesday. The Trump administration said those talks would be followed by additional negotiations in Saudi Arabia to secure an expanded ceasefire and peace agreement three years after Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.