Trump Putin call: Zelenskyy says partial ceasefire would be 'positive' but expresses 'skepticism'

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump held a high-stakes call with Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as the U.S. seeks a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

A White House readout of the call said Putin supports Trump's idea for a mutual pause on energy infrastructure attacks -- but did not include a commitment to the 30-day truce accepted by Ukraine last week despite Trump's optimism in recent days that Moscow would go along.

"Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace," the White House said of the Trump-Putin call. "They also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia. The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people."

"This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts," the White House added. "The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a news conference following Tuesday's developments, said he had "skepticism" but that "if there is a partial ceasefire, this is a positive result."

Trump, in his own social media post later Tuesday, called the hourslong conversation "very good and productive."

"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 wrote.

Trump and Putin also spoke about the Middle East more broadly, including Iran, the White House said.

"The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside," the readout stated. "This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved."

According to Russian state media, the Kremlin said Putin "supported" Trump's idea of a 30-day halt on attacking energy infrastructure in Russia and Ukraine.

But in terms of Trump's proposal for a broader monthlong truce, the Kremlin readout said "the Russian side has identified a number of significant issues related to ensuring effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire line of contact, the need to stop forced mobilization in Ukraine and the rearmament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

The Kremlin also said Putin believed a condition for ending the war should include a "complete cessation" of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv.

The Trump administration took drastic steps in stopping military aid and pausing some intelligence sharing with Ukraine after the Oval Office clash between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Those two tools were resumed after Ukraine agreed to the 30-day ceasefire last Tuesday.

Ukraine has said it would need to approve any agreement.

Zelenskyy was asked by ABC News Chief International Correspondent James Longman during his news conference on Tuesday if he'd commit to an energy ceasefire and what he thought about Trump and Putin's relationship.

"It's hard to tell. It's hard to give an answer to the question in terms of the relationship between Trump and Putin," Zelenskyy responded. "I count on having a conversation with President Trump. We will understand the details. We have always supported the ceasefire position and not to use any weapons against the energy infrastructure, and also we have supported the position of not to attack the naval corridors."

"These were our proposals and we will support any proposals that would lead to stable and fair peace," he added. "But for that we would need to understand what we are talking about, what are the details and hopefully we will learn all those details so that the partners would be telling to us. Because there's two parties in this war, Russia and Ukraine, so without Ukraine I think many negotiations without Ukraine would not result in any help."

ABC News' Ellie Kaufman, Tanya Stuaklova and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.