During an hour-long discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.S. President Donald Trump raised the idea of transferring Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to American ownership.
Trump described Wednesday’s phone call with Zelenskyy as “very good,” and the Ukrainian President echoed this sentiment, per the BBC.
“I had a positive, very substantive, and frank conversation with President of the United States Donald Trump… We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace. We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year,” Zelenskyy posted on X on March 19.
I had a positive, very substantive, and frank conversation with President of the United States Donald Trump @POTUS. I thanked him for a good and productive start to the work of the Ukrainian and American teams in Jeddah on March 11—this meeting of the teams significantly helped… pic.twitter.com/JFBd5EeIkg
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 19, 2025
The meeting was in stark contrast to another one the two leaders had recently held at the White House. In February, a meeting between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and President Zelenskyy descended into a heated public discussion over the war in Eastern Europe and America’s contribution. The latest phone call was the first time the two leaders spoke since last month’s Oval Office showdown.
This conversation with Zelenskyy follows a phone call Trump had the day prior with Russia’s President Putin. Although Ukraine supported a widescale pause in fighting, Putin rejected the proposal.
Zelenskyy said he was open to a partial ceasefire but said Ukraine would retaliate if Russia violated its terms.
There was also a discussion about Ukraine’s electrical supply and nuclear power plants. Trump told Zelenskyy that the U.S. could help protect and run the facilities.
“American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,” the White House said in a March 19 statement.
According to Zelenskyy, while the topic had come up, they only discussed the Zaporizhzhia facility in the Russian-occupied southeastern portion of Ukraine. However, at a news conference in Norway on Thursday, Zelenskyy shut down the idea of the U.S. taking ownership of the nuclear power plants.
“All nuclear power plants belong to the people of Ukraine. These are state-owned nuclear power plants,” Zelenskyy said, per BBC.
He added that while he was open to discussing U.S. investment to modernize the Zaporizhzhia facility, he “definitely did not discuss a change of ownership” of the power plant.
“I thanked President Trump and the American people for their support. I stressed that Ukrainians want peace, which is why Ukraine accepted the proposal for an unconditional ceasefire. I highlighted the importance of President Trump’s concept of peace through strength. We agreed to maintain constant contact, including at the highest level and through our teams,” the Ukrainian President continued in his post on X.