WASHINGTON, March 19 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a phone call on Tuesday that the peace in Ukraine "will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire", reported Xinhua.
The two leaders spoke broadly about bilateral relations, Iran, the Middle East, and the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons, according to a White House statement.
As part of the limited ceasefire plan, the United States and Russia will "immediately" launch technical negotiations on conducting a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, as well as on the full ceasefire and permanent peace in Ukraine, said the statement.
"These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East," the statement said, noting the two leaders agreed that the three-year Ukraine conflict needs to end with a lasting peace.
However, it is not immediately clear how Ukraine will respond to the limited ceasefire plan.
Kiev has said it is ready to accept the 30-day truce proposed by Trump, but the White House did not suggest that Putin had agreed to sign off on it.
The White House also did not mention if Putin, during the talk, demanded the suspension of foreign military aid to Ukraine during the ceasefire, nor issues on land concessions and the future of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest nuclear facility in Europe.
"My phone conversation today with President Putin of Russia was a very good and productive one," Trump wrote on social media shortly after the talk, which lasted at least one and half hours.
"We agreed to an immediate Ceasefire on all Energy and Infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a Complete Ceasefire," the president said, adding that "many elements of a Contract for Peace were discussed" during the phone call.
Putin "immediately gave the Russian military the appropriate command" in response to Trump's proposal for Russia and Ukraine to mutually stop striking energy infrastructures, the Kremlin's press service said after the phone call.
During the phone talk, Trump and Putin also stressed the need for an improved US-Russia relations, according to the White House statement.
Further details are not immediately available, but US media outlets, citing Russian sources, said they spoke in favour of normalising relations between the two countries.
"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," said the statement.
--BERNAMA-XINHUA
