US President Donald Trump has had a “very good” call with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House says, during which US ownership of Ukraine’s energy network was discussed to help protect it.

Mr Trump also agreed to “help locate” additional air defence support in Europe after a request from the Ukrainian leader, a statement about the one-hour phone call said.

Further talks will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the coming days, and the US will continue intelligence sharing with Ukraine, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

Mr Trump also agreed to work to ensure missing Ukrainian children are returned home and both parties agreed to a temporary 30-day ceasefire involving attacks against energy facilities, with the US president saying the US “could be very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise”, Ms Leavitt said.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio also issued a statement about the call saying that “President Trump also discussed Ukraine’s 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.”

The White House statement added that Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy also reviewed the situation in Kursk and agreed to share information closely.

The presidents instructed their teams to move ahead with the details of implementing a partial ceasefire, with discussions to include expanding any ceasefire to the Black Sea.

“We have never been closer to peace,” Ms Leavitt added.

In comments later on Wednesday, Mr Zelenskyy said that Mr Trump understands that Ukraine will not recognise occupied land as Russian, and that he would like the US president to visit Ukraine – adding that “it would be helpful for Trump in his peace efforts”.

In an earlier statement, President Zelenskyy said the two leaders had “a positive, very substantive and frank conversation”.

Mr Zelenskyy echoed much of Mr Trump’s statement about what was decided, and said later that he “felt no pressure” from the US president.

“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,” Mr Zelenskyy said

He added that Ukraine would “continue working to make this happen”.

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“I stressed that Ukrainians want peace, which is why Ukraine accepted the proposal for an unconditional ceasefire,” he said. “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.”

In an earlier post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said the “very good” phone call lasted around one hour.

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“Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs,” Mr Trump said.

“We are very much on track,” he added.

The call marks the first time Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy have spoken since the disastrous confrontation in the White House last month.

Mr Zelenskyy travelled to Washington expecting to sign a critical minerals deal but left early after he and Trump clashed in front of the world’s cameras.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin held a phone call lasting about an hour and a half in which the Russian leader rejected a full 30-day ceasefire.

He agreed to not attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days. The two countries also swapped 175 prisoners each earlier this morning.

The relationship between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been complex over the years.

Relations between the two presidents extend as far back as 2019, the year the Ukrainian leader took office.

It has since weathered the start of the war in Ukraine, Mr Trump‘s reelection and last month’s heated exchange in the Oval Office, in which Mr Zelenskyy was accused of being “disrespectful” to his country’s most powerful ally.

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Here we look back at the key moments that have helped shape the pair’s relationship and how it has changed over the years.

The ‘perfect’ phone call

One of the first times Mr Zelenskyy spoke with Mr Trump was in July 2019, months after he became president of Ukraine.

During a 30-minute phone call, the US leader suggested that in exchange for future military support for Ukraine, Mr Zelenskyy should help launch an investigation into Joe Biden’s son, Hunter.

Trump allies alleged Mr Biden had lobbied Ukraine to dismiss its top prosecutor to obstruct a probe into energy fIrm Burisma, which had Hunter Biden as one of its board members.

Mr Trumo’s request coincided with him appearing to want to weaken Mr Biden as he competed to become the Democratic nominee for the presidential election.

It was this call that formed the basis for Mr Trump’s first impeachment by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 on abuse of power and obstruction of justice charges.

Mr Trump denied wrongdoing at the time and referred to his exchange with Mr Zelenskyy as a “perfect” phone call. He was later acquitted by the Senate.

Mr Zelenskyy later admitted, during his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019, that there was “no blackmail” involved in the exchange.

Outbreak of war

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, triggering the biggest conflict on the European continent since the Second World War.

At the time, the Biden administration made steadfast military and political support for Ukraine a centrepiece of US foreign policy, which included huge sums of military assistance.

Mr Trump condemned the war as “appalling”, saying at the time that he was praying for Ukrainians. He even extended praise to Mr Zelenskyy, calling him “brave” for staying in the capital, Kyiv.

In the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, Mr Trump claimed he would be able to stop the war in 24 hours, adding that he would be able to “get it settled” before even entering the White House.

Doubting the claims, Mr Zelenskyy invited Mr Trump to Ukraine during an interview with Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News, in November 2023.

“If he can come here, I will need 24 minutes – yes, 24 minutes. Not more. Yes. Not more – 24 minutes to explain [to] President Trump that he can’t manage this war [in that time frame],” Mr Zelenskyy told Meet The Press presenter Kristen Welker.

He added at the time that he was unsure if Mr Trump would have Ukraine’s back if he were to re-enter the White House.

Meeting ahead of US election

A month before Mr Trump won the US election, Mr Zelenskyy visited him in Trump Tower, New York.

The trip, which took place in September, came after Mr Zelenskyy told the New Yorker magazine that he thought Mr Trump “doesn’t really know how to stop the war”.

He added, “many leaders have thought they could, but have been unable to do so”.

While in New York, the pair discussed ending the war, with Mr Trump telling Fox News after the meeting that Mr Zelenskyy wants fighting in his country to stop.

Mr Zelenskyy also reissued the invite for Mr Trump to visit Ukraine, to which he said he would accept.

‘Dictator without elections’

Work seemingly began on a ceasefire deal soon after Mr Trump was sworn into office.

Mr Zelenskyy said in February that he was working with a team from the Trump administration, describing the US as the “power that has the ability to not only stop the war but also help ensure the reliability of peace afterwards”.

But relations quickly seemed to turn sour when the US administration held talks with Russian officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without Ukraine.

The four-and-a-half hour meeting was condemned by Kyiv, who said talks should not be held behind Ukraine’s back. Mr Zelenskyy also postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia, reportedly as a way to avoid giving the US-Russian meeting “legitimacy”.

The US-Russian meetings appeared to work as a catalyst of dwindling relations between the two presidents, with Mr Trump then suggesting that Ukraine was responsible for starting the war, adding that Mr Zelenskyy had “better move fast” or he would have no country left.

Her later called Mr Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” – a dig at him remaining in office after Ukraine’s general election was delayed due to Russia’s invasion.

He also repeated the claim that the Ukrainian president has low approval ratings – which had already been dismissed by Mr Zelenskyy as Russian disinformation – and claimed American aid money had been misused.

That Oval Office meeting

Despite prior crosswords, relations between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy appeared to be back on track near the end of February, when Ukraine said it wanted to sign a minerals deal with the US, giving them the right to $500bn (£394bn) in potential revenue from the resources.

The deal had planned to be signed during an in-person meeting in the Oval Office, but Mr Zelenskyy’s visit was cut short due to a clash in front of the world’s media.

The last 10 minutes of the almost 45-minute meeting descended into a tense back-and-forth, which began with vice president JD Vance telling Mr Zelenksyy: “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.

“You should be thanking the President [Trump] for trying to bring an end to this conflict.”

As the Ukrainian president tried to object, Mr Trump raised his voice and told him: “You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people.

“You’re gambling with World War Three, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have.”

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The back ‘on track’ phone call

Addressing Congress a few days after the meeting in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said he had received an “important letter” from Mr Zelenskyy in which he said he would work under his leadership to reach a peace deal.

The letter appeared to echo what Mr Zelenskyy had said in a statement on social media hours after the US reported it was pausing military aid to Kyiv.

Mr Zelenskyy described the Oval Office meeting as “regrettable”, adding that it “did not go the way it was supposed to be” and it was “time to make things right”.

He also added that he was “ready to sign” the mineral deal, which had remained a sticking point between the two countries.

The pair did not have any direct contact until Wednesday, when they had an hour-long phone call.

Mr Trump described the conversation as “very good” adding that he and Mr Zelenskyy are “very much on track”.

He said most of the call was based on what he discussed with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before.

The 30-day pause in airstrikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that Donald Trump got Vladimir Putin to agree to lasted perhaps a few hours.

The White House had claimed “we’ve never been closer to a peace deal” before the phone call between the two leaders yesterday.

Instead, Mr Trump appears to have achieved little in his conversation with Mr Putin, whose ‘red lines’ seem very much intact as his troops continue to hammer the Ukrainian frontlines and with Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing him of hitting Ukrainian energy infrastructure overnight

It’s been a whirlwind first couple of months of the second Trump administration, both stateside and abroad.

As the fallout from the latest development in the Ukraine war continues, let’s look at how the dealmaker-in-chief has fared in his various international interactions.

Cutting Ukraine out of negotiations

Mr Trump famously promised to end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of being sworn in as commander in chief for a second time (he now says he was being sarcastic), but certainly, a swift peace is firmly on his wishlist.

In the last few weeks he has cut off and resumed military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in public and started peace negotiations with Russia without Kyiv’s involvement.

Now the 30-day pause on attacks on energy facilities that Mr Putin agreed to on the phone appears to have been abandoned the same day, with drone strikes launched against Ukraine overnight.

What is clear, however, is that Mr Trump’s comments (and those of his associates) around NATO allies not spending enough appear to have galvanised Europe.

Countries including the UK have pledged to boost defence spending and shoulder more of the security burden – though potentially pivoting away from lucrative American arms sales at the same time.

Trade war with Canada

Mr Trump’s signature economic policy – tariffs on imports – have opened up what essentially amounts to a trade war with America’s biggest trade partner: Canada.

His comments on making the Great White North into the “51st state” have not helped, with new Canadian PM Mark Carney vowing his country will “never ever be part of the US”.

The American president has slapped 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products from 2 April.

Canada, which is the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminium to the US, announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on those metals along with computers, sports equipment and other products worth $20bn in total.

That’s on top of tariffs imposed on 4 March worth a similar amount on US goods in response to broader tariffs by Mr Trump.

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Impact of tariffs elsewhere

Canada is far from the only nation to be hit with sweeping trade tariffs by the Trump administration.

Mr Trump also imposed tariffs on Mexico – a key US trade partner – due to the fentanyl crisis in the US and illegal immigration. Mexico, along with Canada, hit back with retaliatory tariffs.

Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum has sought to appease Mr Trump, including by sending 10,000 national guard soldiers to the border with the US – a win for Mr Trump, though it only amounts to an extra five guards per mile of the border.

The EU’s Ursula von der Leyen criticised new US tariffs on steel and aluminium, and the bloc pledged to raise its tariffs on American products.

China, which has been hit by a 20% tariff by Mr Trump, said it was “ready” for “any type of war” with the US.

The trade escalation between the two countries also spooked markets, contributing to a widespread stock market sell-off.

What’s more, there’s a possibility that China could benefit from the global tariffs regime in the long run.

End of the Gaza ceasefire?

Despite it being signed during the final days of US President Joe Biden’s time in office, Mr Trump took a great deal of credit for the ceasefire deal signed between Israel and Hamas back in January.

It seems that his impending inauguration served to spur things on and help get the deal over the line.

In December, he made a public demand for the release of the hostages, threatening “ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East”, while his envoy put pressure on Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The eventual deal did bring some success – around 30 hostages were released along with more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

But Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza this week, bringing the fragile ceasefire to an end without moving to phase two, which would have seen conversations around a permanent ceasefire.

Greenland and Panama

Mr Trump has also spoken repeatedly about his desire to annex Greenland, despite protests from Denmark and Greenlanders themselves.

“I think that will happen,” he said earlier this month when asked about the US taking over the territory – something around 85% of Greenlanders oppose.

He said the US already has a military presence in Greenland and added: “Maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers going there.”

The row has caused tensions between America and Denmark, which is a US ally and a member of NATO.

Mr Trump has also promised to take over the Panama Canal, a key trade route for international shipping.

He expressed a desire for America to “take back” the crucial waterway from alleged Chinese control.

Earlier this month, a Hong Kong firm sold two major ports on the Panama Canal to a US firm. Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings said the move was “wholly unrelated to recent political news” but the development was nonetheless welcomed by Mr Trump.