Now Zelensky has his opportunity to beckon Trump back into Ukraine’s corner

Seizing the opportunity to drive a wedge between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s president has moved swiftly to usher the American president back towards his corner.

By respecting, vocally, Trump’s efforts to get a ceasefire with Russia, Ukraine has exposed Putin’s deep reluctance to agree to any lowering of hostilities until he can be sure of permanently mangling Ukraine’s sovereignty.

According to a briefing on a call between Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump, the US president has calmed down, stopped calling him a “dictator”, and come up with an agreement to supply some badly needed air defences for Ukraine.

Trump suspended military aid and intelligence sharing to drive Zelensky to talks on a 30-day ceasefire.

“President Zelensky thanked President Trump for a productive start … President Zelensky thanked President Trump for the support of the United States, especially the Javelin missiles that President Trump was first to provide and his efforts towards peace," the White House said.

Zelensky did a lot of thanking and got some of what he needs back by carefully echoing what the White House was saying.

“President Zelensky asked for additional air defence systems to protect his civilians, particularly Patriot missile systems, and President Trump agreed to work with him to find what was available, particularly in Europe."

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Zelensky knows that Putin’s rejection of the terms that the US and Ukraine agreed for a ceasefire will have smarted for Trump. Putin’s sudden additional demand that all foreign military and intelligence assistance be suspended to Kyiv must have especially stung Trump, who wanted to see Moscow sign up to his pre-cooked plan.

So now the US and Ukrainian presidents “reviewed the situation in Kursk and agreed to share information closely between their defence staffs as the battlefield situation evolved”.

Ukraine’s forces have dug in on high ground in Russian territory along their border, and concentrated forces there, to try to stop the advance that drove them out of the rest of the salient they captured from Moscow last year.

The high ground allows them to protect routes into Ukraine’s Sumy province. This week Zelensky said that Putin was massing troops on Ukraine’s northern border for what looked like a renewed invasion.

Now Zelensky has got Trump’s ear he is trying to make sure that the US president has a vested interest in what happens in Kursk. A regular feed of Ukrainian intelligence will flatter the US president and give him a sense of personal investment in what happens there.

Zelensky, who was one of Ukraine and Russia’s most celebrated comic and straight actors, is starting to understand his new American audience.

The White House went on: "The two leaders also agreed on a partial ceasefire [of attacks] against energy [infrastructure]”.

Smart Ukrainian move. Both Kyiv and Moscow ignored the Kremlin’s announcement of a partial ceasefire to protect both nation’s energy systems the previous night – with Ukraine enjoying a successful drone attack on a Siberian oil refinery in Kemerovo.

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But Zelensky said he was keen on the Russian proposal.

“One of the first steps toward fully ending the war could be ending strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure. I supported this step, and Ukraine confirmed that we are ready to implement it," he said after the Trump call.

The White House wants credit for Trump’s initiative. Zelensky is smart enough to give it in church-like call-and-response exchanges.

“They agreed this could be the first step toward the full end of the war and ensuring security. President Zelensky was grateful for the president's leadership in this effort, and reiterated his willingness to adopt a full ceasefire,” the Oval Office said.

Zelensky echoed: “We instructed our teams to resolve technical issues related to implementing and expanding the partial ceasefire. Ukrainian and American teams are ready to meet in Saudi Arabia in the coming days to continue coordinating steps toward peace:”.

To add some financial incentives Zelensky headed off previous speculation that Putin might be somehow allowed to hang on to Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia, instead suggesting America could own it. Trump liked that idea.

The White House said: “President Trump also discussed Ukraine's electrical supply and nuclear power plants. He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise, American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure."

The Trump administration has undermined the prosecution of Putin for alleged war crimes at the International Criminal Court and efforts to find and repatriate up to 35,000 children who may have been abducted from Ukraine into Russia. The State Department shut down the project tracking them and building a case against Putin – and deleted the evidence.

Zelensky has made the return of the missing children a central demand in any peace talks. The White House is now echoing his views.

“President Trump promised to work closely with both parties to help make sure those children were returned home”, Washington said.

Major gaps still exist between the US and Ukraine. First is that Trump’s administration will not acknowledge that Russia invaded Ukraine. The White House has agreed with Russia that Ukraine will have to concede territory it has lost to Moscow. And Ukraine’s request for US military support to guarantee its security after any peace deal is signed remains off the table, as far as Trump is concerned.

But Putin may fear that the unison he has enjoyed with the White House is now discordant as Kyiv and Washington start singing a few lines together.