In order to protect Ukrainian power plants from Russian attacks, President Trump suggests that the United States could take over the facilities. But the Ukrainian head of state Selenskyj says that he only spoke to Trump about one nuclear power plant.
After the phone call with Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump called his Ukrainian counterpart Wolodymyr Selenskyj. It was officially the first conversation between the two heads of state after Trump and his vice JD Vance Selenskyj humiliated in the White House in front of running cameras at the end of February.
The one-hour conversation served to reconcile the wishes and needs of Ukraine and Russia in order to achieve a ceasefire between the two countries, Trump then wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “We are on the right track,” he added.
Putin had previously rejected a full 30-day ceasefire on the phone call with Trump. However, he agreed not to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure for 30 days – if Ukraine do that too. Selenskyj agreed to the proposal.
Energy systems as the property of the United States?
The White House announced that Trump had proposed Selenskyj to take over the Ukrainian energy systems by the United States. This should ensure the security of the systems. “American ownership of these facilities could be the best protection for this infrastructure,” said Trump.
In one point, however, Selenskyj later contradicted the representation of the White House: While Trump claims to have proposed a takeover of all four Ukrainian nuclear power plants as a security guarantee, according to Selenskyj was only talked about the Russian Saporischschja nuclear power plant. This was said by the Ukrainian President of the Financial Times newspaper.
Kyiv has control over three out of four nuclear power plants
The government in Kiev is currently in control of three of the Ukrainian nuclear power plants, while Russia has conquered the fourth in Saporischchja in 2022 and still holds it today. Whether the largest nuclear power plant in Europe can play a role in future security agreements depends on “whether we can get it back and put it back into operation,” said Selenskyj of the Financial Times. With Washington he had explored whether the USA couldn't get Saporischeschja back from the Russians. According to Selenskyj, it could take more than two years before the power plant can be put back into operation.
Trump's move to the Ukrainian nuclear power plants came as a surprise. In a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the national security advisor Mike Waltz, it was said that the US President also spoke to Selenskyj that “the United States could be very helpful when operating these systems with their specialist knowledge in the areas of electricity and energy supply.”
Ukraine questions Putin's will to peace
After Putin and Trump's conversation, the reactions in Ukraine were behavior. Overall, the doubts that the Russian head of state is really interested in a ceasefire. According to Kiev, the Russian army again attacked Ukraine's energy and infrastructure after Trump and Putin's phone call.
Regardless of the diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire, Ukraine and Russia reported mutual attacks on Thursday night. At first there were no reports of new attacks on the energy infrastructure.
