Trump and Putin agree to an immediate ceasefire for energy infrastructure in Ukraine conflict

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a lengthy call Tuesday to an immediate pause in strikes against energy infrastructure in the Ukraine war, but the Russian leader stopped short of backing a broader 30-day pause in fighting that the U.S. administration is pressing for.

The White House described it as the first step in a “movement to peace” that it hopes will include a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea and eventually a full and lasting end to the fighting. But there was no indication that Putin has backed away from his conditions for a prospective peace deal, which are fiercely opposed by Kyiv. And shortly after the call ended, air raid alerts sounded in Kyiv, followed by explosions in the city. Local officials urged people to seek shelter.

Putin during the call reiterated his demand for an end to foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, according to the Kremlin. Trump, though, denied that the subject came up during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

“We didn’t talk about aid," Trump said. “We didn’t talk about aid at all.”

Russia also wants Ukraine to pull back its troops from the four regions that Moscow has annexed but never fully captured, renounce any prospect of joining the NATO military alliance and sharply cut its army.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that Ukraine is open to any proposals that lead to a sustainable and just peace, but stressed the need for full transparency in discussions.

Zelenskyy said he was seeking more details on what Putin and Trump agreed on, but rejected Putin’s demand for halting military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine, warning that such a move would weaken Ukraine.

“We need to understand what the conversation is about," Zelenskyy said. “What are the details? And hopefully, we will be fully informed, and our partners will discuss everything with us.”

He added: “There are two sides in this war — Russia and Ukraine. Trying to negotiate without Ukraine, in my view, will not be productive."

Ukrainian officials earlier this month proposed a ceasefire covering the Black Sea and long-range missile strikes and the release of prisoners.

Trump immediately cheered Tuesday's development as a major step toward his ultimate goal of ending the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.

“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 and, ultimately, an END to this very horrible War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said on social media.

Putin also told Trump that Russia and Ukraine are set to exchange 175 prisoners of war each on Wednesday, and Russia will also hand over to Ukraine 23 badly wounded soldiers, the Kremlin said.

The limited pause comes as Trump still hopes to get Russia to sign off on his 30-day ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials last week agreed to the 30-day ceasefire proposal during talks in Saudi Arabia led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff then met with Putin in Moscow to discuss the proposal.

Zelenskyy, however, remains skeptical that Putin is ready for peace as Russian forces continue to pound Ukraine.

“This is not a game where only Putin dictates the rules,” Zelenskyy said, making clear he remains doubtful that Putin was serious about wanting peace.

The Trump-Putin engagement is just the latest turn in dramatically shifting U.S.-Russia relations as Trump made quickly ending the conflict a top priority — even at the expense of straining ties with longtime American allies who want Putin to pay a price for the invasion.

Trump has at moments boasted of his relationship with Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Zelenskyy of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.

Trump has said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict.

He said before the call that control of land and power plants would be part of the conversation, which came on the anniversary of Russia annexing Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula 11 years ago. That bold land grab by Russia set the stage for Russia to invade its neighbor in 2022.

But neither the White House nor Kremlin made any mention of land or power plants in their post-call statements.

Witkoff on Sunday suggested that U.S. and Russian officials have discussed the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe's largest — in southern Ukraine. Russian troops seized the plant early in the war and it has been caught in the crossfire, fueling fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe.

The plant is a significant asset, producing nearly a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity in the year before the war.

After a disastrous Feb. 28 White House meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump temporarily cut off some military intelligence-sharing and aid to Ukraine. It was restored after the Ukrainians last week signed off on the Trump administration's 30-day ceasefire proposal.

In his dealings with Zelenskyy and Putin, Trump has frequently focused on who has the leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy does not, Trump has said repeatedly.

Trump, who has long shown admiration for Putin, has also made clear he'd like to see the U.S.-Russia relationship return to a more normal footing.

The president during his recent contentious meeting with Zelenskyy grumbled that “Putin went through a hell of a lot with me," a reference to the federal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election in which he beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump on Tuesday again underscored his view that Ukraine is not in a strong negotiating position. He said Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian troops in Russia's Kursk region — amplifying an assertion made by Russian officials that's been disputed by Zelenskyy.

“They are nicely encircled, and that’s not good,” said Trump, according to excerpts of an interview on Fox News Channel's "Ingraham Angle." “And we want to get it over with.”

Ukraine’s army stunned Russia in August last year by attacking across the border and taking control of an estimated 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) of land. But Ukraine’s forces are now in retreat and it has all but lost a valuable bargaining chip, as momentum builds for a ceasefire with Russia.

The White House said Trump and Putin also discussed the situation in the Middle East and agreed “Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.”

U.S. officials have previously said that Iran has provided Russia with short-range ballistic missiles and attack drones for the war in Ukraine. The U.S. has also said that Iran has assisted Russia with building a drone-manufacturing factory.

The Kremlin said that Trump also expressed support for an idea floated by Putin to organize hockey matches in the United States and Russia between Russian and American players from the National Hockey League, which has U.S. and Canadian teams, and the Kontinental Hockey League, which includes teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and China.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. AP writer Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv contributed reporting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Irina Gekht, the newly appointed governor of Nenets Autonomous District, during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference following the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, March 17, 2025. (Yury Kochetkov/Pool Photo via AP)

"Peace to the world", a painting created by Russian artist Alexei Sergienko showing a combination of faces of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, is on display at the Sergienko's gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

In this combination of file photos, President Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center, are seen at the Elysee Palace, Dec. 7, 2024 in Paris, and President Vladimir Putin, right, addresses a Technology Forum in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, left and center, Pavel Bednyakov, right)

FILE - President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FREEDOM, Maine (AP) — Heather Donahue is walking through the woods once again. The star of the successful low-budget horror movie “ The Blair Witch Project ” has an on-screen history of getting into scary situations in a forest.

But this time she is merely picking up an old soda can someone carelessly left on a trail. And she wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

“For me, reading fairy tales, I always wanted to live in the forest,” said Donahue, 51, who moved on from acting long ago and now lives in rural Maine. “It is absolutely as magical as it seemed in those storybooks.”

But the last several months of Donahue's time in the Maine woods have been anything but magical, or peaceful.

In a twist of fate harkening back to her movie career, Donahue has been embroiled in a spat with locals in her tiny, 700-resident town of Freedom that hinges on her marking trees with the kind of orange blazes that help people find their way in the dense forests.

Donahue had been a member of the town’s governing body, its Select Board, but lost a recall election recently after a controversy about whether a rural road that cuts through the woods is public or private. The matter remains unresolved, with the town and abutting landowners fighting it out in court.

The road in question is Beaver Ridge Road, a narrow, partially hilly stretch flanked by wild plants and songbirds that goes from paved to gravel to dirt as it stretches deeper into the forest. Several abutters of the road say the unimproved section is private and to use it for activities such as all-terrain vehicle riding constitutes trespassing. Donahue, and the town itself, hold that the entire road is public.

Donahue painted the orange blazes using historical maps to show what she holds is the center of a public easement. Abutting property owners were incensed and the first successful recall petition drive in the town's 212-year history followed. Donahue was removed in April and an election to pick her successor is planned for next month.

Tyler Hadyniak, one of the abutting property owners, said the recall wasn't just about the orange blazes or the woodland trail. He said it addressed a pattern of behavior by Donahue that chafed longer-established residents in the year since she took office.

“I was relieved that the recall was successful. I thought Heather's demeanor and behavior toward others was just unbecoming of a town official,” Hadyniak said.

Donahue, who is originally from Pennsylvania and has spent long stretches of time living in California and traveling abroad, said she is aware of her status as what she called “a lady from away.”

She arrived in Maine after a winding journey in which she struggled with alcoholism, left acting, became a medical marijuana farmer and wrote a memoir.

Donahue said she came to the Pine Tree State eight years ago, overcame her addiction and bought land in Freedom in 2020. Recently, she has worked as a life coach and shared her passions for gardening and medicinal plants with anyone who will listen.

She isn't especially interested in reliving the glory of starring in “The Blair Witch Project,” which was released in 1999 and is one of the most successful independent movies of all time. The film sparked a resurgence of interest in “found footage” style horror movies, wowed critics and polarized audiences with its homespun take on terror. It also led Donahue to years of legal wrangling over compensation and the right to her likeness.

Donahue makes occasional tongue-in-cheek references to the movie in passing, but also said it struck her several years ago that her life was inseparable from the film in ways that weren't entirely comfortable: “I had this really difficult moment of realizing my obituary was written for me when I was 25.”

Ordinarily, the hottest gossip in Freedom concerns the peskiness of the local blackflies or the quality of the fishing on Sandy Pond. But the row over the road has become the talk of the sleepy town some 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of the state capital of Augusta.

Donahue has defenders in town, including Bob Kanzler, who served on a local roads committee and agrees the disputed path is public.

“Heather has done a wonderful job in researching these discontinued roads in town,” Kanzler said. “I know the road is public.”

Despite the ongoing battle over the road, Donahue said she has found peace in Maine. And she's not going anywhere.

“I mean, this is where humans flourish,” she said of the Freedom woods. “I've figured out a way to do a lot with very little. That was all kind of centered around being able to walk in the woods.”

The Freedom Congregational Church is seen Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

A blaze painted on a tree with temporary surveyor's paint is seen on a tree during Heather Donahue's walk on a rural road, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Water flows beneath a dam, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Heather Donahue, the star of the 1999 low-budget hit movie The Blair Witch Project, poses next to a "posted" sign in on a rural road, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Heather Donahue, the star of the The Blair Witch Project, pauses on a walk to watch a songbird,Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Heather Donahue walks on a rural road, Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Freedom, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)