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President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia agreed on Tuesday during a phone call with President Trump to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the Kremlin said in a statement, but restated his concerns about a broader 30-day cease-fire that the United States and Ukraine had agreed upon and proposed to Russia.<\/p>\n
The result seemed to fall short of what Mr. Trump had been hoping for in his outreach to Moscow, after several days of optimistic-sounding pronouncements from the White House that peace was within reach.<\/p>\n
During the call, Mr. Putin said his \u201ckey condition\u201d to end the conflict and prevent it from escalating was a \u201ccomplete cessation\u201d of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv, the Kremlin said.<\/p>\n
It was unclear how Ukraine would respond to the Kremlin\u2019s statement: it falls short of the unconditional 30-day U.S.-backed cease-fire proposal that Ukraine had already said it would support.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ukrainian officials have accused Mr. Putin of playing for time in order to maintain leverage in negotiations, and allow Russia time to continue bombarding Ukrainian cities and towns.<\/p>\n
This is a developing story.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n