Donald Trump has said America should take ownership of Ukraine’s power plants to protect them from Russia attacks.
The US president made the surprise offer during an hour-long phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
It came a day after Vladimir Putin agreed to stop targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days - although there has been no evidence that he plans to stick to that agreement.
Speaking after his call with Trump on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said he and Trump only talked about the Zaporizhzhia power plant, which is in Russian-occupied territory.
A US readout of the call from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz said: “President Trump also discussed Ukraine electrical supply and nuclear power plants.
“He said that the United States could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise. American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure.”
Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, told Fox News that America could “run nuclear power plants in Ukraine — no problem”.
Trump and Zelenskyy had previously agreed a deal which would have given the US access to Ukraine’s natural mineral resources, but that has never been signed following the pair disastrous Oval Office meeting three weeks ago.
Ukraine has agreed to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in the war, but Putin refused to follow suit during his own phone call with Trump on Tuesday.
Although he said Russia would stop targeting Ukrainian power plants, Putin demanded that foreign countries stop providing Kyiv with military and intelligence support.
Keir Starmer’s official spokesman yesterday rejected that idea, saying: “We will always continue to support Ukraine militarily for as long as it takes to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible.”