President Donald Trumpâs muchâvaunted telephone summit with Vladimir Putin ended in disappointment after the Russian leader kept the U.S. president waiting for the call.
Trump raised hopes at the weekend but there was no agreement on a temporary respite in the war with Ukraine despite the White House saying the two men talked for nearly two hours.
The Kremlin said the leaders agreed for Russia and Ukraine to stop strikes on each otherâs energy infrastructure for 30 days.
Putin insisted peace was only possible if it was âcomprehensive, sustainable and long-termâ, the Russians added.
âBoth leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,â the White House said. âThe leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace.
âThese negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.â
According to a report, Putin kept Trump waiting for up to one hour after the agreed time for the call while speaking to industrialists at a conference in Moscow.
While some conservative outlets portrayed the energy infrastructure agreement as a major step on the path to peace, it fell way short of expectations after Ukraineâs acceptance last week of Trumpâs 30-day unconditional ceasefire deal.
As expected, Putin had plenty of conditions of his own.
Perhaps the most tricky will be persuading European allies, who Trump and JD Vance have alienated in recent weeks, to agree to Russiaâs demand for a âcomplete cessationâ of foreign military and intelligence to Kyiv.
Volodymyr Zelensky is unlikely to be swayed. He would have known that Putin would press for more even if his own bargaining power remained limited.
The White House said the wider peace talks would begin immediately in the Middle East.
âThe leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East,â said the White House.
The temporary pause on attacks on energy plants will at least offer Ukraine a reprieve from the electricity outages that have blighted homes across the country.
âThis conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts,â the White House said in a statement.
âThe two leaders agreed 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,â the statement added.
Tellingly, Trump did not appear after the meeting to take a victory lap with the media.
For now that will have to wait, perhaps until a face-to-face meeting can be arranged.
At least then, the American president will not be kept waiting.
