White House: Putin backed ‘energy and infrastructure ceasefire’:

March 18, 2025 at 05:35PM

Fresh Ukraine talks to start ‘immediately’ in Middle East

Putin agreed to pause strikes on Ukraine energy targets for 30 days

The Russian headlines sounded like Putin endorsed the idea of a pause on hitting energy infrastructure, though I’d imagine the Ukraine will have to be a party to that agreement.

Here is the White House readout:

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.

Russia was downplaying the ceasefire progress while the White House is emphasizing progress.

Lots of headlines talking about a creasefire on energy and infrastructure now but the text said it “will begin” and doesn’t say when, though it implies it will be soon. That could be meaningful for oil.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.