Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on Tuesday for at least 90 minutes.
Russia has agreed to a partial ceasefire on targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure as a result, for a period of 30 days.
But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that future talks about Ukraine without Kyiv at the table will not bring any results.
Here’s what two of Sky’s correspondents make of the Trump-Putin phone call.
Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
I think Vladimir Putin will be very satisfied with the outcome of this call because even if he hasn’t gained a whole lot, he crucially hasn’t lost anything.
By agreeing to a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, he has given Donald Trump enough to ensure the wider US-Russia rapprochement remains intact.
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There’s been talk in the last month of a reset of relations, of the lifting of sanctions – and Putin certainly doesn’t want to jeopardise that.
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At the same time, though, Putin didn’t want to dilute any of his red lines. And by the sounds of it, they’re as indelible as ever.
The Kremlin’s readout of the call talks of a need to “eliminate the root causes of the crisis”, which is Kremlin code for “Russia’s security concerns regarding NATO expansion need to be met”.
One thing this call has given him though is the time to press home Russia’s military advantage.
This is particularly important to Putin in Russia’s Kursk region, where his forces are seemingly on the verge of eradicating Ukraine’s foothold, which would be of huge symbolic importance to the Kremlin.
James Matthews, US correspondent
They’re calling it “ceasefire-lite”. In Kyiv, they’ll choke on it.
The respective readouts of the Trump-Putin phone call don’t read well for Ukrainians relying on a US ally to do their bidding.
They had already agreed to a 30-day ceasefire with the Americans who said they were “on the 10th yard line of peace”.
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Moscow, clearly, has different ideas. To extend the American football metaphor, Vladimir Putin still has hands on the ball.
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There was, of all things, talk of US vs Russia ice hockey matches. In Moscow, they know Trump’s comfortable talking sport and that many Americans think hockey before they think Ukraine.
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It was dressing around a deal that is deeply flawed from Kyiv’s perspective.
Russian talk of eliminating “root causes of the crisis” speaks to Moscow’s desire to demilitarise Ukraine and lay claim to its territory.
Then there was Putin’s insistence on a “cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv”.
To cut the supply of weapons and intelligence would weaken Ukraine while Russia strengthens. For Kyiv, it’s a line so red, it’s purple.
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What Trump does next is pivotal. What he’s done so far boxes Ukraine into a corner, European allies too.
A common thread in the readouts was the positive talk of US-Russian relations to come – “an improved bilateral relationship… has huge upside” was Washington’s take.
It’s clear Trump and Putin share the vision of a geopolitical shift, built on shared priorities. The fate of Ukraine isn’t necessarily top of the list.
