KYIV/HELSINKI (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would speak to President Donald Trump on Wednesday and urged the United States to monitor a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia which he said Russian President Vladimir Putin had already ignored.
Moscow and Kyiv accused each other on Wednesday of launching air attacks that damaged infrastructure just hours after their leaders agreed in principle to a limited ceasefire to halt attacks on energy infrastructure.
Zelenskiy, in a joint briefing in Helsinki with Finnish President Alexander Stubb, said Putin’s words were not enough and that Ukraine would provide a list of energy facilities it hopes the U.S.
and allies would help monitor.
“I really want there to be control. But I believe that the main agent of this control should be the United States of America,” he said, adding that Kyiv would be ready to commit to a ceasefire.
“If the Russians will not strike our facilities, then we will definitely not strike theirs,” Zelenskiy said.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia had suspended its attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure after a Tuesday phone call between Putin and Trump and had shot down its own Ukraine-bound drones while they were in the air.
In the call, Putin agreed to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities temporarily but declined to endorse a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump hoped would be the first step toward a permanent peace deal.
However, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Russian drones had damaged two hospitals in the northeastern Sumy region and railway infrastructure in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
Zelenskiy said the attack, which the air force said involved 145 drones, showed “Putin’s words are very different from reality” and called for sustained Western military aid to Ukraine.
Ukraine said it destroyed 72 drones while Russia said its air-defence units had downed 57 Ukrainian drones, but did not reveal how many were launched.
Moscow said Ukraine hit an oil pumping station in southern Russia.
‘STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION’
Zelenskiy’s call with Trump would be the first known direct contact between the two since their White House clash last month threatened ties between Kyiv and its biggest military backer.
The Ukrainian leader said he would seek more details about Trump’s call with Putin, and that Ukraine was preparing for a new round of talks with U.S. officials on technical elements of a partial ceasefire.
Stubb said Tuesday’s phone call between Trump and Putin was a step in the right direction but that Russia should face pressure if it did not unconditionally accept the ceasefire.
“If Russia refuses to agree, we need to increase our efforts to strengthen Ukraine and ratchet up pressure on Russia to convince it to come to the negotiating table.”
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa and Dan Peleschuk; Additional reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Writing by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Bernadette Baum, Aidan Lewis)
