US President Donald Trump spoke to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this Wednesday. He suggested that the U.S. take charge of Ukraine’s nuclear stations. He’s trying to get Ukraine and Russia to stop the war, and he thinks having the U.S. in charge of those power plants could help keep things running smoothly and safely in Ukraine.
Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, and Mike Waltz, the national security adviser, said in a statement that Trump talked to Zelenskyy about how the U.S. could be “very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise.” He also pointed out that American ownership of those plants could best protect that infrastructure.
Zelenskyy asked for more high-tech missiles called “Patriot” systems to keep his country safe. The U.S. folks said they’d look into it, especially checking around Europe to see how they can help Ukraine with its defense needs.
The chat between Trump and Zelenskyy came after Trump had talked to President Vladimir Putin from Russia the day before. The folks from the Kremlin said that if everyone was gonna take a break from fighting, the West had to stop giving Ukraine all those military supplies and sharing their secret intel. But, the person who speaks for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said “intelligence sharing in terms of defense for Ukraine” would continue.
Putin promised not to mess with Ukraine’s power stuff anymore, but he didn’t agree to a full stop to the fighting. Later, Trump posted on social media that he was trying to “align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs” so the hostilities would end.
Sen. Murkowski: “How we came to a place where we’re fighting now with Canada, and we’re making nice with Russia. It’s beyond me…As long as we’ve got to send up fighter jets to chase off Russian bombers…I’m not going to trust Putin. And I’m not going to be quiet about it.” pic.twitter.com/fGy5AzeHe9
— Republicans for Ukraine (@GOP4Ukraine) March 19, 2025
Even though Trump talked with Putin, Ukraine still had to deal with more Russian trouble, like a huge attack with 150 drones in just one night; at a meeting in Helsinki, Zelenskyy said what Putin promised about not going after Ukraine’s power plants was “very much at odds with reality.”
Even last night, after Putin’s conversation with … Trump, there were 150 drones launched overnight, including on energy facilities,” Zelenskyy told everyone at the news conference.
But Moscow is singing a different tune. They say they’ve stopped aiming for Ukraine’s power and are now pointing fingers at Kyiv, claiming they’re the ones attacking Russian things. Dmitry Peskov, the face of the Kremlin, said, “For now, there is no reciprocity on the part of the Kyiv regime.”
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s oily little mouthpiece, couldn’t stop gushing about how goddamn proud the Kremlin is of Trump—the man’s a fucking wrecking ball, gleefully torching America’s foreign policy into a smoking heap of shit. Peskov practically creamed himself saying Trump’s… pic.twitter.com/34xpcRRQmL
— P a u l ◉ (@SkylineReport) March 3, 2025
International observers viewed Trump’s energy plan sceptically. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, suggested that Putin might be trying to push Ukraine into “capitulation.”
This institute said, “Putin is attempting to hold the temporary ceasefire proposal hostage in order to extract preemptive concessions ahead of formal negotiations to end the war.”
Alexander Stubb, the President of Finland, who had Zelenskyy over as a guest, pointed out that Russia was adding conditions to the ceasefire. Still, Ukraine was willing to go for it without any strings attached. Stubb’s take on the U.S. president’s proposal was simple: “There are only two ways to respond to the proposal of the president of the United States: it’s a yes or a no — no buts, no conditions.”
As diplomatic talks continued, Waltz posted on social media that he and Russia’s Yuri Ushakov planned to meet in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss stopping the fighting. It’s still a mystery if any Ukrainians will attend this meeting.
On a different note, Ukraine and Russia just did a big swap of prisoners. They gave back 175 people to each other. But, Zelenskyy is still saying no to Putin’s idea that Ukraine should say the land that Russia is holding onto is Russia’s.
Zelenskyy put it straightforward: “For us, the red line is the recognition of the Ukrainian temporarily occupied territories as Russian. We will not go for it.”
