WASHINGTON >> President Vladimir Putin of Russia agreed for the first time Tuesday to a limited ceasefire that would stop strikes on energy infrastructure, as long as Ukraine does the same, the Kremlin said in a statement.

But in a phone call with President Donald Trump, he declined for now to agree to a 30-day halt in fighting that U.S. and Ukrainian officials had proposed, meaning that the attacks on Ukrainian civilians, cities and ports can continue as the two sides vie for territory.

Still, if strikes on energy infrastructure by both sides stop, it would mark the first mutually agreed suspension of attacks in the three-year war, which the White House characterized as a first step toward a broader peace.

A ceasefire for energy targets would not only benefit Ukraine, which has struggled for years with Russia’s repeated attacks on its energy grid. It would also come as a relief to the Kremlin, as Ukraine has conducted strikes on oil and gas facilities deep into the Russian heartland.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said he was awaiting a phone call from Trump to find out the details of his discussion with Putin but noted he was open to a truce on strikes targeting energy infrastructure.

“Russia and Ukraine, through the mediation of the U.S., can agree not to attack energy infrastructure,” he told the Ukrainian public broadcaster, Suspilne, on Tuesday night. “Our side will support this. But it cannot be the case that Russia attacks our energy sector and we remain silent. We will respond.”

In Tuesday’s call, Putin insisted that a long-lasting peace depended on a complete cessation of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

In essence, Putin was demanding an end to all of the military support for Ukraine that the United States and its allies have provided for three years. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have been highly critical of the billions of dollars that the United States has spent on the war, but the White House made no reference to that part of the discussion in its vaguely worded account of the conversation.

Nor did the White House describe any discussions over what territory Russia might retain after its seizure of about 20% of Ukraine’s land, beginning with the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The result of the call seemed to fall well short of what 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.

Putin also said Russia would release 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers as a sign of goodwill and would carry out a prisoner exchange with Ukraine later this month, consisting of 175 prisoners from each side, the Kremlin said.

The Trump administration temporarily suspended military and intelligence aid to Ukraine this month after an explosive confrontation between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. Washington restored the flow of aid after U.S. and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia and agreed to a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire proposal. The Trump administration then brought the proposal to Moscow.

Putin, keen to avoid upsetting the Kremlin’s rapid rapprochement with the White House, said that the idea was “correct” and that Russia supported it in principle. But he proceeded to lay out conditions known to be unacceptable to Kyiv.

According to the Kremlin, the Russian leader reiterated those concerns during the call Tuesday. Putin raised the issue of “ensuring effective control” to implement the ceasefire across a lengthy front, the Kremlin said. The Russian leader also said Ukraine would need to pause personnel mobilization and rearmament, a condition Ukraine has said it will not accept.

On Sunday night, Trump told reporters he expected much of the discussion would focus on territory that would be ceded to Russia and on control of nuclear power plants. That seemed to suggest he wanted to discuss the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is now occupied by Russian forces. But neither the Kremlin nor the White House mentioned any discussions about the power plant.

Washington and Moscow committed last month to normalizing their diplomatic missions, after years of tit-for-tat expulsions and closures, and midlevel U.S. and Russian officials held talks on the issue in late February. The White House and the Kremlin did not mention the matter, however, in their summaries of the call.

In a White House statement and a post by Trump on Truth Social, Washington said Putin had agreed to cease strikes on “energy and infrastructure.” But the Kremlin, in its statement, said “energy infrastructure.” It was not clear how the moratorium on energy strikes, if it goes into effect, would be enforced.

The Trump administration’s avoidance of discussing the details may be designed to keep the maximum flexibility in the negotiating room. But it may also reflect a desire to avoid another open confrontation with Zelenskyy.

In recent days senior Ukrainian officials have described three red lines going into negotiations: Kyiv will never formally accept Russian sovereignty over occupied Ukrainian territory, agree to neutral status or agree to reduce the size of its armed forces. Officials have also said they must obtain security guarantees as part of any settlement.

Speaking to journalists Saturday, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not recognize occupied territory as Russian “under any circumstances,” adding that he understood “that this is precisely what the Russians need, and it will insist on terms it knows Ukraine cannot accept.” In November, Zelenskyy conceded not all territory could be won back by force and may have to remain under de facto Russian control after a settlement.