Partial ceasefire in Ukraine, hockey games and more… What Trump-Putin discussed during 90-minute call

“Plan A is: Get the shooting to stop,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday (March 16) when speaking on the Trump administration’s goal to secure a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

However, it seems that Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t in the mood to heed the US request, at least not completely. In a “lengthy” phone call with Trump on Tuesday (March 18), the Russian strongman agreed on a 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure in the Ukraine war but stopped short of a full truce. In fact, shortly after the telephonic conversation, Moscow launched a drone assault over Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

As many noted after the call the compromise that Putin has offered, on the face of it, promises little change on the ground. Moreover, the conditions that the Russian leader insists would be required for a permanent truce have set up pretty grim prospects of negotiating one.

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Here’s all that we learnt from the phone call — where the two leaders agreed and where they diverged — in their over 90-minute chat.

A ‘power’ play

In their long conversation, Putin agreed to halt attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine for a period of 30 days. The White House called it the “first step” toward a broader peace deal.

In the three-year Russia-Ukraine war, Moscow has often targeted Ukrainian power plants, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying last September that about 80 per cent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was destroyed by Russian bombs. The resulting blackouts have enabled Russia to weaponise Ukraine’s dangerously cold winters and intensify the suffering of millions of civilians.

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However, Putin has now called for a pause on such attacks, which experts note is quite a self-serving concession as that will save Russia’s energy system from being hit by the Ukrainians.

Putin rejects full 30-day ceasefire

The Russian strongman has rejected a full 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war. According to the Kremlin readout of the call, Putin expressed various concerns it: “In the context of the US President’s initiative to introduce a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian side outlined a number of significant points regarding ensuring effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire line of combat contact, the need to stop forced mobilisation in Ukraine and rearm the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

“Serious risks associated with the inability to negotiate of the Kyiv regime, which has repeatedly sabotaged and violated the agreements reached, were also noted.”

However, the two leaders have agreed to keep talking. Speaking on the same, the White House said, “These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.” Later, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said talks on a ceasefire deal “will begin on Sunday in Jeddah”.

Witkoff said the US delegation in Saudi Arabia would be led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, but did not indicate who they would be holding talks with.

Many commentators note that this is Putin’s way of biding time in the war. A Politico report said that “much like he did with American negotiators over Syria, he’s forcing his interlocutors deeper into a labyrinth of conditions and “root causes,” seeking to wear them down and either manage to secure his main goals or drive everything into an interminable back-and-forth”.

“ As far as the Kremlin sees it, negotiations are the continuation of war — just by other means,” wrote the news outlet.

Putin calls for end to foreign military aid to Ukraine

The Russian side said a “key condition” for any resolution to halt the war was the end of US and European support for Ukraine. “It was emphasised that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution by political and diplomatic means should be a complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” said a readout.

The US had temporarily suspended military and intelligence support for Ukraine but restored it after talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in which the Ukrainian side backed the US ceasefire proposal.

Ending foreign military aid to Ukraine during a ceasefire would effectively allow Russia to rearm during a truce while throttling Ukraine’s military build-up. One of the major sticking points to a ceasefire is how it would be enforced and whether European troops would have a role in peacekeeping.

Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange

Trump and Putin have also agreed that a prisoner swap would take place between Russia and Ukraine on March 19 — 175 for 175 people. In addition, as a gesture of goodwill, 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian servicemen who are being treated in Russian medical institutions will be transferred.

Improving Russia-US ties

Trump and Putin both spoke of improving US-Russian ties. The US readout of the call said, “The 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.”

The Russian side of the call noted “mutual interest in normalising bilateral relations.”

“In this context, a wide range of areas in which our countries could establish cooperation was considered. A number of ideas were discussed that are moving towards the development of mutually beneficial cooperation in the economy and energy sector,” it said.

A US-Russia hockey series

Apart from the discussion of war and hostilities, the two leaders also discussed staging a series of ice hockey games between players of both countries, said the Kremlin.

In its readout, the Kremlin said that Trump supported Putin’s idea to organise games in the US and Russia involving players from the NHL and the KHL.

Putin’s love for hockey is well-known; he attended the Russia-US preliminary round game at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, famously won in a shootout by American TJ Oshie.

With inputs from agencies