Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin reached an agreement on Tuesday, March 18, on an agreement for an ceasefire in Ukraine following a long telephone exchange. Contrary to what the United States wanted, it will nevertheless be only partial, since it would only concern energy infrastructure and last 30 days. The conditions of this agreement (end of the rearmament of Ukraine, sharing of the territory, etc.), which will be truly negotiated from next Sunday in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, are still deemed unacceptable by kyiv.
Info to remember
⇒ Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin reached a cease-fire agreement limited to energy infrastructure during a call on Tuesday evening
⇒ The strikes continued against Ukraine in the night
⇒ Negotiations on the truce conditions will begin on Sunday in Saudi Arabia
08h00
Germany denounces Putin’s “game” after new strikes in Ukraine
Germany reproached Vladimir Putin on Wednesday for “playing a game” after new Russian strikes denounced by Ukraine, the day after the agreement for a limited truce concluded by the Russian president with his American counterpart Donald Trump during an exchange on the phone. “We have found that attacks on civil infrastructure have absolutely not decreased during the first night according to this supposedly revolutionary and formidable telephone call,” said German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in a television interview.
07:20
Strike exchanges continue between Ukraine and Russia
Volodymyr Zelensky announced Tuesday evening that his country had been the subject of new Russian strikes, a few hours after the announcement by Washington and Moscow for a limited truce. These strikes were carried out “against civil infrastructure”, notably in kyiv and Soumy, in the north of the country, where a hospital was targeted by a “direct strike” of drone according to him.
“It is precisely these night attacks in Russia that destroy our energy, our infrastructure and the normal life of the Ukrainians. And the fact that this night was not an exception that we must continue to put pressure on Russia for the good of peace,” said Volodymyr Zelensky.
The Russian authorities on their side, on their side, reported early Wednesday morning of a fire in an oil depot in the Krasnodar region, east of the border with Ukraine.
7:15 am
London welcomes Donald Trump’s progress to a cease-fire
The United Kingdom praised “the progress made by Donald Trump for a cease-fire” in Ukraine, after the American president’s telephone exchange with the obvious Russian president. “This process must lead to a fair and lasting peace for Ukraine. We will remain by his side as long as it takes to ensure that Russia can never launch an illegal invasion,” a spokesperson for Keir Starmer said in a statement.
The British Prime Minister, who exchanged with Volodymyr Zelensky by phone “in the evening”, once again “reiterated the unwavering support of the United Kingdom” to Ukraine, more than three years after the invasion led by Moscow. The British government had indicated on Monday that a “significant number” of countries were ready to provide troops to guarantee a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, within the framework of the “coalition of voluntary countries” that Paris and London are trying to constitute.
07:00
Negotiations on the ceasefire will begin on Sunday in Saudi Arabia
American emissary Steve Witkoff said that American-Russian negotiations on the ceasefire would begin on Sunday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and would also relate operations in the Black Sea. He said that the American delegation in Saudi Arabia would be led by the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and the national security advisor Mike Waltz, but not who would be their interlocutors.
Regarding a truce limited to energy infrastructure and a sea cease-fire in the Black Sea, “I think the Russians have accepted these two points. I am hopeful that the Ukrainians will accept it,” he said on the Fox News channel, also indicating that Washington wanted the 30-day truce concerning “the infrastructure in general”.
Donald Trump, who has started a spectacular rapprochement with Moscow, has already validated several Russian claims, judging impossible to maintain the territorial integrity of Ukraine and its membership in NATO. The American president said he was ready to speak of “sharing” between Ukraine and Russia, which claims five Ukrainian regions including Crimea.
06:45
Vladimir Putin “rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire,” said Volodymyr Zelensky
The Ukrainian president said Tuesday evening that his Russian counterpart “rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire”, after the telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders agreed with a 30-day truce, limited to the strikes on energy infrastructure.
The American president acknowledged that negotiations with his Russian counterpart had been “difficult”. Moscow has mentioned an “detailed and frank” exchange. Without engaging in a total ceasefire in the immediate future, Vladimir Putin had demanded before the maintenance the end of the “rearmament” of Ukraine and the stopping of Western aid in kyiv. Donald Trump, however, assured Fox News that his Russian counterpart had not demanded an immediate stop of Western aid in Ukraine during their maintenance. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the French president Emmanuel Macron and their British counterpart Keir Starmer, for their part assured Ukraine on Tuesday of the continuation of military aid provided by their countries.