US President Donald Trump said his call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin went “very well”, adding that Russia and Ukraine will start negotiations on a “immediately” ceasefire.
Trump, who was to speak with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, said that all parties wanted the end of the war.
“I just finished my two-hour call with President Vladimir Putin from Russia. I think it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations to a cease-fire and, more importantly, the end of the war,” Trump published on his social media platform Social on Monday.
He said that the conditions for talks and the ceasefire “will be negotiated between the two parties”, adding that the tone and the spirit of his call with Putin were “excellent”.
“Russia wants to trade on a large scale with the United States when this catastrophic” bath “is over, and I agree. There is a great opportunity for Russia to create massive quantities of jobs and wealth. Its potential is unlimited,” said Trump.
He added that Ukraine is also to be won by such an agreement.
“Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on trade, in the process of reconstruction of its country. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will start immediately. ”
Trump said that he also informed Zelenskyy, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the French president Emmanuel Macron, the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Finnish President Alexander Stubb of his call with Putin.
“The Vatican, represented by the Pope,” said that he would be very interested in organizing negotiations. Let the process start! ” Said Trump.
Trump’s reputation on the line
Trump struggled to end a war that started with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, which made these conversations a serious test of his negotiation reputation after having claimed that he would quickly settle the conflict once back to the White House, if not before he even took office.
“He became tired and frustrated by the two sides of the conflict,” said the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday before the call. “He clearly told the two parties he wanted to see a peaceful resolution and a cease-fire as soon as possible.”
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The republican president puts on the idea that his personality and personal history force with Putin will be sufficient to break any dead end on a break in the fights.
“His sensitivities are that he must take the phone with President Putin, and that will eliminate part of the Logjam and bring us to the place where we should go,” said Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff. “I think it will be a very successful call.”
However, there are fears that Trump has an affinity for Putin who could disadvantage Ukraine with any agreement designed by the United States government.
Bridget Brink said she had resigned last month as an American ambassador to Ukraine “because politics since the start of the administration was to put pressure on the victim of Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.”
Brink said that the sign she had to leave was an oval office meeting in February when Trump and his team openly reprimanded Zelenskyy so as not to be deferential for them.
“I believe that peace at all costs is not peace at all,” said Brink. “It is appeasement, and as we know in history, appeasement only makes war.”
Trump’s frustration about the war was built before his post on Truth Social on the next calls on Saturday.
Trump said his discussion with Putin would focus on stopping the war “bloodbath”. It will also cover trade, a sign that Trump could seek to use financial incentives to negotiate a kind of agreement after the invasion of Russia led to serious sanctions by the United States and its allies which have regularly eroded the capacity of Moscow to grow.
Trump’s hope, according to the post, is that a “war that should have happened will not end”. »»
His secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, said on Sunday on the NBC Meet the press The fact that Trump had clearly indicated that Putin failure to negotiate “in good faith” could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.
Bessent suggested that the sanctions that started during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were inadequate because they did not stop oil income from Russia, due to the concerns that this increases American prices. The United States has sought to cap Russia’s oil revenues while preserving the country’s oil exports to limit the damage caused by the inflation that war has produced.
Putin recently rejected an offer from Zelenskyy to meet in person in Turkiye as an alternative to a 30-day cease-fire exhorted by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington.
These discussions ended Friday after less than two hours, constantly in place. However, the two countries have committed to exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war each, with the intelligence chief of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, affirming on Saturday on Ukrainian television that the exchanges could occur this week.
While finishing his four-day trip to the Middle East, Trump said on Friday that Putin did not go to Turkiye because Trump himself was not there.
“He and I will meet, and I think we are going to resolve it or maybe not,” Trump told journalists after taking Air Force One. “At least we will know. And if we do not solve it, it will be very interesting. ”
Zelenskyy met Trump’s vice-president, JD Vance, and the best diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Rome on Sunday, as well as European leaders, intensifying his efforts before Monday calls.
The Ukrainian President said on the social media site X that during his talks with US officials, they had discussed negotiations in Turkiye and that “the Russians sent a delegation of low level of non-decideers”. He also said he stressed that Ukraine was engaged in “real diplomacy” to have a cease-fire.
“We have also discussed the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, the battlefield situation and the next exchange of prisoners,” said Zelenskyy. “Pressure is necessary against Russia until they are impatient to stop the war.”
The German government said Merz and French, British and Italian leaders spoke with Trump late Sunday in Ukraine and his next call with Putin. A brief statement did not give any details on the conversation, but said that the plan was that the exchange continued directly after Trump-Putin’s call.
In an article on X on the conversation, Macron said that Putin on Monday “must show that he wants peace by accepting the unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposed by President Trump and supported by Ukraine and Europe”.
The thrust occurred while the Kremlin has launched its greatest drone dam against Ukraine since the start of the large -scale invasion in 2022, drawing a total of 273 drones and explosive lures, the Air Force of Ukraine said on Sunday. The attacks targeted the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions of the country.
Witkoff spoke on Sunday on ABC This week And Brink appeared on CBS Face the nation.
– with files from the Associated Press