Donald Trump’s envoy has dismissed claims from Ukraine that Vladimir Putin had already breached terms of a partial ceasefire deal overnight.
The US president said on Tuesday that he had managed to persuade his Russian counterpart to agree to halt all strikes on “energy and infrastructure” in Ukraine for 30 days, in what he described as a major step towards peace.
But the Kremlin’s readout of the call was worded slightly differently, saying Moscow had only agreed to a temporary ceasefire on “energy infrastructure”.
Hours later, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there had been direct strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine yet again.
European leaders quickly condemned Russia for breaching the terms of the agreement already, but it seems the White House was not so worried.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, told Bloomberg TV he had it on “good information” that Putin had told Russian forces not to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure within 10 minutes of his call to Trump.
Witkoff said: “Putin issued an order within 10 minutes of his call with the president directing Russian forces not to be attacking any Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“Any attacks that happened last night would have happened before that order was given.
“In fact, the Russians tell me this morning that seven of their drones were on their way when President Putin issued his order and they were shot down by Russian forces.”
He continued: “So I tend to believe that President Putin is operating in good faith. He said that he was going to be operating in good faith to the President yesterday, and I take him at his word.”
The Kremlin also claimed it had called off a drone attack which was already underway after the Putin-Trump call.
However, there is evidence suggesting otherwise, as a senior fellow at the think tank, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace pointed out.
Dara Massicot noted more than 100 fresh drones were launched up to five to six hours after the call ended. Even strikes on hospitals were not called off.
Russia has also accused Ukraine of breaching the truce, saying its defence ministry destroyed 57 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Witkoff then praised the relationship between Putin and Trump, saying he expected to pair to meet soon.
He said: “You know, I can’t speak for them, but my best bet would be that it’s likely to happen. They have a great rapport together. They had a great rapport in the first Trump administration.
“It was on display yesterday. This was really a very positive, very proactive, outcome oriented call, and that’s who President Trump is. He’s there to get to the goal line. And we did a we went a long way yesterday to doing that.”
The envoy’s comments come as Trump and Zelenskyy were having a scheduled phone call about ending the Ukraine war on Wednesday.
Their relationship has been far less “positive” than Trump and Putin’s, especially after the US president chastised Zelenskyy in the Oval Office over his supposed lack of gratitude for America’s support throughout the war.
Trump even withheld military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine until Kyiv agreed to a 30-day ceasefire and a mineral-sharing deal with the States as a form of repayment for wartime support.
Although Putin ordered the full-blown invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump has not asked the aggressor to make any concessions in the name of peace.
But Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz has suggested Ukraine may have to do “some type of territory-for-future-security guarantees” for the country’s future – and a “permanent pathway into Nato is incredibly unlikely”.
Meanwhile, Russian troops continue to advance in eastern Ukraine.
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