Trump makes play for Ukraine’s nuclear power plants in call with Zelensky
By Michael Koziol
Washington: US President Donald Trump made a bid to take over Ukraine’s nuclear power plants during a phone call with its President, Volodymyr Zelensky, telling him American ownership would offer Kyiv “the best protection” despite a ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks having just been agreed.
The Trump administration also appeared to reject Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demand to cut off all military aid and intelligence sharing for Ukraine, with an official White House summary of the call saying defence staff of both nations would continue to share battlefield information.
However, Zelensky’s request for additional US air defence systems – specifically the advanced Patriot interceptor missile – was not immediately granted.
The US statement said Trump “agreed to work with [Zelensky] to find what was available, particularly in Europe”.
Trump and Zelensky spoke for about an hour in what both leaders characterised as a good and productive call, in which the Ukrainian leader formally supported a 30-day halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, as agreed by Trump and Putin the previous day.
The White House summary, which came from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, said Trump raised a takeover of Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants.
Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.Credit: AP
“He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise,” the readout said.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
No information was provided about Zelensky’s response to that suggestion, and the Ukrainian leader did not mention it in his account of the conversation.
Nor did either side mention the so-called minerals deal, which would give the US the right to exploit Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as payback for previous and ongoing military support.
That deal was supposed to be signed when Zelensky visited Washington at the end of February, but it collapsed after Trump, Zelensky and US Vice President J.D. Vance engaged in a televised blow-up in the Oval Office and Zelensky was kicked out of the White House.
Trump’s current position on the minerals deal was not clear, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated it was no longer a pressing issue.
“We have moved beyond the economic minerals deal; we are at a place of peace, we’re at a partial ceasefire, and we’re moving towards a full ceasefire and a long-standing peace in this conflict,” she said.
Both sides characterised Wednesday’s (Thursday AEDT) call as positive, in contrast to the Oval Office disaster. The Ukrainian leader thanked Trump for his past generosity in giving Kyiv Javelin missiles and his efforts to end the war and negotiate a peace deal.
Trump “fully briefed” Zelensky on his conversation with Putin the previous day, Rubio said. Zelensky said Ukrainian and American teams were “ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue co-ordinating steps toward peace”.
Ukraine and Russia have theoretically agreed to a limited 30-day ceasefire in which both sides would not strike energy infrastructure, such as oil and gas facilities. However, both countries were accused of breaking that deal within hours, with Ukraine saying power facilities were hit in Slovyansk and Russian media reporting an oil pumping station was attacked by Ukrainian drones.
The three-year war has brought repeated warnings of dangers to Ukraine’s four nuclear plants, especially at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine, which is Europe’s biggest and one of the 10 largest in the world.
The other operational plants are Khmelnitsky and Rivne in western Ukraine.
Chernobyl – the site of the world’s worst civil nuclear catastrophe when one of its four reactors exploded in 1986 – is also in Ukraine, near the capital Kyiv, in the country’s north. That reactor is now enveloped by a protective shelter, known as a sarcophagus, to contain the lingering radiation. In February, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead caused significant damage to the radiation shelter.
In an exchange planned before the call with Trump, Russia and Ukraine each swapped 175 prisoners on Wednesday in one of the largest handovers since the war began. Zelensky said releasing all prisoners of war as well as captured civilians would be an important step towards peace.
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