Russia and Ukraine agree to stop attacking power plants

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a U.S-led proposal to stop bombing Ukraine’s power infrastructure, but not a full ceasefire.

Ukraine has said it will also support the agreement, which also requires it to stop bombing Russian energy facilities.

It comes as the U.S. pushes to end the war that began in February 2022 with Russia’s wide scale invasion.

Background

Since coming to office, U.S. President Donald Trump has pushed to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, which has lasted more than three years.

UN data shows more than 12,500 civilians have been killed in the war to date. Neither side releases updated data on soldier deaths.

Earlier this month, following a heated discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump cut off aid to Ukraine. His administration has also signalled it will not support some of Ukraine’s war-ending conditions.

Talks

In recent weeks, the U.S. has held separate talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia about ending the war.

At the same time, European leaders have formed a ‘coalition of the willing’ — an improvised group of nations formed outside existing agreements like NATO and the G20. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are part of the ‘coalition’, but not the U.S.

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This group is working to end the war and organise support for Ukraine.

Call

On Tuesday (local time), Trump spoke to Putin. Following the phone call, Trump and Putin’s teams released separate statements.

The White House said the pair had discussed “the need for peace,” and that this process would “begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire”.

The Kremlin said the two leaders had “a detailed and frank” conversation, where Putin said a key ceasefire condition was the “cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence” to Ukraine.