Trump and Putin had a bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019, Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war. Trump made this statement after speaking with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
“Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post following his two-hour call with Putin.
After their conversation, Putin stated that efforts to end the war were “generally on the right track” and that Moscow would work with Ukraine on a potential peace deal.
“We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord,” Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has not yet commented on Trump’s announcement about immediate talks. A source familiar with the situation revealed that Zelenskiy spoke “for a few minutes” with Trump before the U.S. leader called Putin.
Kyiv has expressed readiness for an immediate ceasefire, while Moscow maintains that certain conditions must be met first.
In his social media post, Trump noted that “the Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!”
Putin and Trump spoke following direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv last week in Turkey—the first such meeting since the early months of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Those talks failed to produce a truce agreement.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance earlier repeated a warning that Washington might withdraw from the peace process.
Putin explained that the memorandum would define “a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement.”
He added that achieving appropriate agreements could lead to a ceasefire, and that direct talks between Russia and Ukraine provided “reason to believe that we are generally on the right track.”
