On Monday, Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt said they were on the on “10th yard line” of a deal with Russia.

But today, despite warm words from both sides, Russian President Putin ultimately did not agree to a full ceasefire after a 90-minute phone call with President Trump.

After last week's talks in Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine agreed to a US-backed ceasefire, top US diplomat Marco Rubio said the ball was in Russia's court.

And today, Putin outlined Russia's conditions for agreeing to a full ceasefire - a key condition is an end to foreign military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.

One thing that Zelensky and Putin did agree to support is a temporary energy truce - but Zelensky says he still needs more details.

We're going to be pausing our coverage, but for further explanation of the day's events, you can read Tom Bateman's latest or watch him unpack everything here:

Is it all just a game for Putin?published at 21:31 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

21:31 GMT 18 March

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Some in Europe had warned against Trump’s outreach to the Kremlin, saying all previous attempts to propose a temporary ceasefire were exploited by Putin.

They fear Trump risks being outmanoeuvred by the former KGB foreign intelligence officer who has decades of experience trying to leverage international leaders.

The Kremlin statement added a final line that critics will interpret as an attempt to mock Trump’s lofty ambitions to immediately end wars while showing Kyiv that Washington is realigning with Moscow to end its global isolation.

It said: “Donald Trump supported Vladimir Putin's idea to organize hockey matches in the USA and Russia between Russian and American players."

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Volodymyr Zelensky, who was speaking just hours after the Trump-Putin call ended, outlined several points in his response to the leaders' conversation.

Here's a quick look at what else he covered during his address in Finland:

• The Ukrainian leader said that he expects to have a "conversation with President Trump" where he'll see "the details" of the US president's talk with Putin - he provided no timeline for when that would happen
• He called on President Putin to free all Ukrainian prisoners of war as a demonstration of good will
• Zelensky also said Ukrainian troops will stay in Russia's Kursk region for "as long as we need"

Image source, Reuters

A partial ceasefire may be close, but there's still lots to be donepublished at 20:57 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

20:57 GMT 18 March

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Both the Russian and American sides have put a positive spin on Tuesday’s lengthy phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

That’s good news for the American president, who has touted his unique ability to broker a deal between the warring nations. While he was able to pressure Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, he expressed optimism that Russia, too, wanted peace – and would soon demonstrate that.

Trump appears to have obtained at least a partial ceasefire, involving attacks on energy infrastructure, and the hopes of more to come, along with a prisoner exchange. He quickly took to social media to celebrate what he called a “very good and productive” conversation with his Russian counterpart.

Beneath the flowery language in Russia’s read-out of the phone call, however, are some significant obstacles that the American president will have to address. Russia is demanding the US to halt arms shipments to Ukraine and for the nation to end its “forced mobilisation” – effectively denying it the manpower and the weapons to continue military operations.

And as we have seen in Gaza, ceasefires don’t always lead to lasting peace.

It is unlikely that Ukraine – or its European allies – will agree to concessions that would put it at a greater disadvantage to Russia if fighting were to resume.

Trump may be encouraged by today’s phone conversation, but he still has considerable work to do.

Vladimir Putin’s phone call with Donald Trump is a "power play" from the Russian president, who’s "not in a hurry" and “is in charge of this situation”, according to former Trump Russia adviser Fiona Hill.

Speaking to the BBC’s Ukrainecast podcast, Hill, who served on the National Security Council as an advisor on Russia under President Trump, said: "the US has offered him a great deal, actually, already it seems. And he's in no mood to make any major concessions."

Pressed on whether an energy and infrastructure ceasefire was a concession, Hill said: "this is a kind of concession that Putin always makes... Putin's idea of a negotiation is to start a fight with you, beat the crap out of you and then say, he's going to stop beating you."

Listen to today's episode of Ukrainecast here.

Image source, EPA

We've just received reaction from the UK Prime Minister's office who says it welcomes the "progress President Trump has made towards a ceasefire".

Negotiations must lead to a "just and lasting peace for Ukraine," Keir Starmer's office adds.

Although Putin confirmed to Trump his "principled commitment" to a peaceful resolution, he also outlined Russia's stipulations, a statement from the Kremlin suggests.

Let's take a look at some of those conditions:

• The Kremlin statement says Putin told Trump "the key condition" for preventing an escalation of the conflict "should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and sharing intelligence information with Kyiv"
• Putin also spoke about the "need to stop forced mobilisation in Ukraine and the rearmament of the Armed Forces of Ukraine"
• Any settlement "should be complex, stable and long-term in nature" and must "take into account the absolute need to eliminate the root causes of the crisis", the statement reads
• It must also consider "the legitimate interests of Russia in the area of ​​security"

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent in Kyiv

In his first response to the Trump-Putin call, President Zelensky made clear he would support any end to Russian attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure.

That is no surprise because it was part of his own plan. But that’s the key point: the Russian offer is only part of the interim ceasefire plan the US and Ukraine had agreed.

Putin, he said, was still setting out “additional conditions” before he would agree a ceasefire and that showed Russia was “not ready to finish this war”.

Zelensky insisted Western powers would continue giving Ukraine military aid – despite Russian demands that they stop. And he also said Russian demands for Ukraine to be prevented from rearming during a ceasefire was just designed to weaken its armed forces.

As Zelensky gave his press briefing, air raid sirens rang out across Kyiv. The irony was not lost on anybody including Zelensky who said it once again showed Russia could not be trusted.

President Volodymyr Zelensky is now providing his first response to Trump and Putin's phone call from earlier today.

The Ukrainian leader, who has been speaking in Finland, says that he supports the proposal for a 30-day energy truce, but he needs more "details".

"We've always supported the idea of not attacking energy [infrastructure] with any weapons," he tells a news conference in Helsinki.

But, he says, Putin's terms for peace show that Russia is not "ready" to end the war in full.

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The statement from the White House on Trump's call with Putin suggests the US president has backed down on his demand for an immediate ground, air and sea truce. Instead, Putin has agreed to halt long-range missile strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

This was, in fact, a Ukrainian proposal that the Americans side-stepped a week ago.

Trump and Putin also appear to have agreed to immediate technical-level talks toward a longer-term settlement. The Kremlin said this must be "complex, stable and long-term in nature".

However, it's not clear if this means further talks between the US and Russia or bilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

But, crucially, Putin has placed a major condition on this - one that is existential for Ukraine. The Kremlin statement reads that a key stipulation for "preventing the escalation of the conflict and working toward its resolution" should be "the complete cessation of foreign military aid and sharing intelligence with Kyiv".

Putin has already tasted Trump's readiness to cut off US support to Ukraine, and is trying to get him to repeat it - while tossing the ball back to Kyiv to agree to a far more limited truce than Trump had demanded they sign up to.

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The White House statement on the call with Putin amounts to a retreat in the Trump's administration's position from where it stood just a week ago.

When the US delegation met the Ukrainians in Jeddah last Tuesday, they got Kyiv to agree to their proposal for an "immediate" 30-day full ceasefire. The US said "the ball" was now in "Russia’s court".

So much for that demand, which has now disappeared from White House language.

Instead, the White House says "the movement to peace" will begin with "an energy and infrastructure ceasefire" before talks about broadening this into further measures for de-escalation and a full ceasefire.

The Trump administration will celebrate this as significant progress, but Ukraine will likely see it as Putin playing for time - while he adds crippling conditions and gets the US to bend.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

We've just heard directly from Donald Trump on his Truth Social social media account.

In the post, Trump says that his call with Putin "was a very good and productive one".

"We agreed to an immediate ceasefire on all energy and infrastructure, with an understanding that we will be working quickly to have a ceasefire and, ultimately, an end to this very horrible war," he writes.

He repeats the claim - which he often makes - that this war "would have never started if I were president".

"Many elements of a contract for peace were discussed, including the fact that thousands of soldiers are being killed, and both President Putin and President Zelensky would like to see it end," he says. "That process is now in full force and effect".

"We will, hopefully, for the sake of humanity, get the job done," the post concludes.

Sarah Rainsford
Eastern Europe correspondent

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have been a constant since its full-scale invasion, causing long blackouts in the deep freeze of winter.

The attacks are meant to sap the energy and morale of civilians and often hit the most vulnerable the hardest.

I remember visiting a care home for the elderly in Kyiv where the radiators were tepid and there was no electric pump to provide water for days on end. In another city, a pensioner walking her dogs described climbing up and down the stairs of her tower block because the lift never worked.

In many places, generators are now a staple of life – the only way to keep businesses and the basics of life going. People are resilient, they’ve adapted.

But on top of the air raid sirens and the physical danger, it’s not easy. So if Putin really does stop Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, as he says he’s agreed, it will bring some relief to civilians there.

But many will see this as the bare minimum he could have done to end the aggression against their country.

The will of a US president alone may not be enoughpublished at 18:48 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

18:48 GMT 18 March

Liza Fokht
BBC News Russian

Image source, Getty Images

The agreements to halt strikes on energy infrastructure, exchange prisoners, and begin negotiations on safe shipping in the Black Sea are significant developments that could directly impact people’s lives in Ukraine, Russia, and beyond.

But, judging by the read-outs from the White House and the Kremlin, no major breakthroughs were made.

As he did a week ago, Vladimir Putin has made it clear that he has no intention of backing down from his maximalist demands. He expects Ukraine to fully renounce foreign military aid and intelligence support, as well as halt mobilisation, if it truly wants a ceasefire.

Over the past few days, journalists have speculated on whether the White House will accept these terms or follow through on Trump’s threats to pressure Moscow.

Judging by the statements coming from Moscow and DC, neither has happened. The White House has yet to decide which path it will take, and this will likely be the focus of a new round of negotiations in the coming weeks.

When Trump entered the White House, he hoped his direct involvement would bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine.

But in practice, the will of a US president alone proves not to be enough.

Image source, Reuters

Let's take a look at the key takeaways from the White House statement after Trump's call with Putin:

• Trump and Putin spoke about the "need for peace and a ceasefire" in the Ukraine war, agreeing it needs to end with a "lasting peace"
• They stressed the need for improved US-Russia relations
• The leaders agreed that the "movement to peace" begins with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea
• The presidents also discussed the Middle East "as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts"
• They discussed a need to "stop proliferation of strategic weapons"
• And "shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel"

You can read our recap on what the Kremlin said about the Putin-Trump call here.

Gains and losses for both sides in thispublished at 18:18 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March

18:18 GMT 18 March

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent reporting from Germany

Image source, Reuters

A ‘frank’ exchange in a phone call is usually a diplomatic nicety for sharp differences of opinion, bordering on a row.

President Trump may well be privately disappointed that he has not been able to get his Russian counterpart to sign up to the comprehensive 30-day ceasefire deal - on land, sea and in the air - that his team thrashed out recently with the Ukrainians in Jeddah.

But the 30-day pause in attacks on energy infrastructure, as announced today, will still come as a relief to war weary Ukrainian civilians.

Militarily, that may not necessarily suit Ukraine. While its ground forces have been pulling back, both in Kursk and in parts of the frontline in Ukraine, its long-range drone attacks have been scoring a lot of direct hits on Russian oil installations. This in turn has had an impact on Russian military logistics, but will now have to pause.

Here in Germany President Putin was described today by the Defence Minister Boris Pistorius as ‘the greatest threat to European security. Speaking before the Trump-Putin phone call, he said Putin’s actions and reactions proved he had no interest in peace.

Attention will now move to the Middle East which is due to shortly host the next round of ceasefire negotiations aimed at stopping the war in Ukraine.

We are still yet to have a response from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or other Ukrainian officials after Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure for 30 days.

We'll bring you the latest reaction as soon as we get it.

Image source, EPA

We've been receiving some lines from both the Kremlin and the White House in the last hour - following the US and Russian president's phone call.

In short, the Kremlin statement says:

• Putin supports Trump's idea for Ukraine and Russia to stop attacking energy infrastructure for 30 days
• Negotiations concerning the safety of shipping in the Black Sea will begin
• On 19 March, Russia and Ukraine will exchange 175 prisoners of war, and 23 seriously injured Ukrainian soldiers being treated in Russia will be transferred
• The Kremlin demands no more mobilisation or rearmament from Ukraine during the 30 day ceasefire

Here's the full statement from the White House after the call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. We'll be picking over both statements in the coming posts:

Today, President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. 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 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.

The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts. They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application. The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.

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

As we've just reported, the Kremlin has just released a statement about Putin and Trump's phone call.

Here's a snippet of that statement:

"During the conversation, Donald Trump proposed that parties to the conflict should mutually refrain from strikes on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. Vladimir Putin responded positively to this initiative and immediately gave the Russian military the corresponding order.

"The Russian President also responded constructively to Donald Trump’s suggestion to implement a well-known initiative concerning the safety of navigation in the Black Sea. It was agreed that negotiations to further elaborate the specific details of such an agreement should begin."