AILSA CHANG, HOST:
President Trump spoke for almost two hours this morning with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The highly anticipated phone call comes as the U.S. president tries to broker a ceasefire to end Russia's war in Ukraine. NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid has been following this closely and joins us now. Hi, Asma.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Hi there, Ailsa.
CHANG: OK, so tell us more about what Trump and Putin talked about today.
KHALID: Yeah. Well, Trump is trying to reach a truce to end the three-year war in Ukraine, and he did get a first step today. The Kremlin said that it'll stop strikes on energy infrastructure for the next 30 days. Now, the discussion did not result in a concrete peace agreement, but the White House issued a statement saying that the U.S. and Russia agreed to start talks toward a ceasefire, and those negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East. They referenced not just energy infrastructure, but also negotiations toward implementing a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea.
CHANG: And we should note, Asma, that Ukraine was not part of that call. Is there any word on what Ukraine is thinking about all this dialogue?
KHALID: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on social media that Putin, quote, "effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire," and he does not see this limited ceasefire deal as real evidence that Russia wants to end the war. He called on the world again to put sanctions against Russia, and he wants more aid for Ukraine. He also said that Ukraine remains open to a peace deal, but it needs to be involved in the negotiations. Last week, Ukraine did agree to a broad monthlong ceasefire. And today's phone call between Trump and Vladimir Putin was an effort to convince Russia to agree to that pause as well. And Trump did not really get there, but the White House wants to continue talks.
CHANG: Well, what is the sticking point to a broader deal here?
KHALID: You know, to me, if you look at how the White House and how the Kremlin characterize this call, you can see the gaps. The Kremlin issued a statement today that essentially said Moscow wants a long-term settlement. But Putin also has a major stipulation - no more foreign intelligence sharing and no more military aid for Ukraine. In an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham today, Trump was asked whether Putin had demanded a halt to all aid to get a ceasefire deal, and Trump insisted it did not come up during the call.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, he didn't. We didn't talk about aid. Actually, we didn't talk about aid at all. We talked about a lot of things, but aid was never discussed.
KHALID: Another sticking point, as our colleague Charles Maynes, who's based in Russia, has pointed out, is that Putin has raised the issue of who will monitor this ceasefire. He does not want any NATO countries to do the monitoring, and Putin also believes that any long-term agreement here has to deal with what he believes is the root of this conflict, and that is NATO expansion. He absolutely does not want NATO at Russia's borders. He does not want Ukraine to be a part of NATO ever. And Trump has also said that he thinks Ukraine's membership into NATO is not realistic.
CHANG: Well, what about from Ukraine's side? Like, what are they holding out for?
KHALID: Well, one major point is that they have wanted security guarantees from the United States and Europe because they don't trust that Putin will stick to his end of the deal. This was a point of discussion when Ukraine's President Zelenskyy came to the White House last month and met with President Trump.
CHANG: OK, well, what do all these new developments mean for President Trump, ultimately, you think?
KHALID: You know, Trump wants an end to this war. He's been sounding optimistic, even talking to reporters about this idea of dividing up assets. So it sounds like he sees the end of this war here, but I will say broadly, Ailsa, ever since he returned to the White House, he has changed the conventional wisdom around American foreign policy. He has been far more willing to engage directly with Putin, which is something that we never saw the former president, Biden, do during the war between Russia and Ukraine. And he's also aligned himself much more philosophically with Russia, adopting its viewpoint and even blaming Ukraine for starting the war, even though, to be clear, it was Russia who invaded Ukraine.
CHANG: That is NPR's Asma Khalid. Thank you so much, Asma.
KHALID: Always good to speak with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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