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President Donald Trump proposed that the US take over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in a call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.
The call between the two leaders came a day after Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of the US president’s push to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“President Trump also discussed the Ukrainian supply and nuclear power plants,” according to a call account by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
“He said the United States can be very useful in directing those plants with its electricity and services expertise,” the summary added, with the American ownership offering the “best protection” for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
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It was unclear which of Ukraine’s power assets Trump suggested that the US should control. In recent days, Trump and his team have repeatedly noted the importance of Ukraine’s nuclear objects.
Zapaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, is in the occupied Russian territory in eastern Ukraine. There are three other facilities in areas of the country still held by this.
The call comes as Trump’s peace ambitions have shown signs of deceit, as the US president constantly thrown himself during his White House campaign, as able to end conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.
Earlier this week, a ceasefire deal with the US between Israel and Hamas collapsed, while Trump failed to persuade Putin to agree with a full ceasefire in Ukraine.
During Wednesday’s call, Zelenskyy agreed to support a US proposal to stop strikes in Russian energy infrastructure.
The deal comes a day after the Russian president agreed on a 30-day pause on attacks on Ukrainian energy assets. However, Moscow continued to hit the energy targets instead Wednesday morning.
In a post on social truth after calling on Wednesday, Trump described his discussion with Zelenskyy as “very good”, adding that peace talks were “very much in the way”.
The White House later said that the agreement on the power infrastructure shocks was a prelud to talk further in Saudi Arabia in the coming days “for the extension of ceasefire in the Black Sea.
She added that this was a step “along the way to a full truce”.
Zelenskyy described his call with Trump as a “very essential and sincere conversation”.
He added that one of the first steps to end the war could stop on strikes on energy – which Putin has agreed – but also “other civil infrastructure”.
The White House said Zelenskyy also demanded that Patriot US supply missile systems, adding that Trump agreed to work with him to find “what was available, especially in Europe”.
