Russia launched a mass drone attack on Ukraine’s energy grid mere hours after Vladimir Putin agreed with Donald Trump to halt such strikes – although the US president has claimed efforts to get a ceasefire are “very much on track”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the overnight barrage proved Putin’s word was “very much at odds with reality” before holding his own call with Mr Trump on Wednesday, a call the US president described as “very good” and helped to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs”.
“We are very much on track,” Mr Trump said on the Truth Social platform straight after the call, which was the first time he had spoken to Mr Zelensky since a public bust-up between the two at the White House last month.
Lasting an hour, the call was significantly shorter than the one held with Putin the previous day, but was called “fantastic” by the White House.
The strikes launched by Russia highlights just how big a gap Washington must bridge over a peace deal, with Putin having refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire already agreed by Kyiv.
Mr Zelensky said the drone strikes had knocked out the electricity for parts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk and hit other civilian infrastructure, including two hospitals and more than 20 houses. Ukraine’s state railway company said that part of the network was hit both in the early strikes and later on Wednesday afternoon.
“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,” Mr Zelensky said at a news conference in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, before his call with Mr Trump.
Mr Zelensky said that “words of a ceasefire” were not enough. “If the Russians don’t hit our facilities, we definitely won’t hit theirs,” he added.
Other European nations also expressed their scepticism over Putin’s actions. “Attacks on civilian infrastructure in the first night after this supposedly pivotal and great phone call have not abated,” Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told broadcaster ZDF. “Putin is playing a game here.”
The offer to temporarily stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities counted for nothing and Mr Trump would have to win greater concessions, he added.
In response to Mr Zelensky’s comments on the drone attack, the Kremlin claimed it had called off planned attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including shooting down seven of its own drones heading towards Ukraine.
It accused Kyiv of failing to call off its own attacks in what it called an attempt to sabotage the agreement. Officials in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a small fire at an oil depot.
Mr Zelensky struck a more positive tone in his statement after the call with Mr Trump. He called it “a positive, very substantive, and frank conversation” and said that “under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieve this year.” He said that Kyiv stood ready to implement the limited ceasefire against “strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure”.
Ukraine and Russia also announced they had carried out an exchange of prisoners, each releasing 175 troops in a deal facilitated by the United Arab Emirates. Moscow said it also freed an additional 22 wounded Ukrainians as a goodwill gesture. The exchanges have happened at points throughout Russia’s invasion, but this was one of the largest.
However, there are few signs that Putin is planning on budging on demands that would be red lines for Kyiv when it comes to a peace deal. Not least that in order to agree a full ceasefire, Moscow would require all Western military aid to Ukraine to cease.
Following the spat at the White House between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, the US paused military aid for a time, spooking European allies to up their support for Kyiv. They would be deeply wary of any such agreement to achieve a full ceasefire.
Indeed, Mr Zelensky used his call with Mr Trump to push for additional air defence systems, particularly US-made Patriots, to protect from Russian aerial assaults. The White House said Mr Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, but added the caveat that would be “particularly in Europe”.
Trump administration officials have sought to play up the progress on a ceasefire, with US envoy Steve Witkoff saying on Wednesday that Mr Trump and Putin are likely to meet given the fact “they have a great rapport together.”
“I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith. He said that he was going to be operating in good faith to the president yesterday, and I take him at his word,” Mr Witkoff told Bloomberg, striking a different tone to some European allies.
Attention now turns to talks between the US and Russia expected in Saudi Arabia this Sunday, to see just how serious Russia is.
