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Kremlin says Putin and Trump discussed direct contacts between the Russian president and Ukraine’s Zelensky
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Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations after a two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin, only for Russia to deny that it has presented a timeline for ending the war.
Mr Trump said he asked his Russian counterpart: „When are we going to end this, Vladimir?“
Shortly after the US president lauded his call with Mr Putin as “excellent”, the Kremlin‚s foreign policy aide and top diplomat Yuri Ushakov said there had been no talk about a timeframe for a ceasefire in Ukraine to begin.
Moscow claimed that Mr Putin was now ready to work towards peace and on a memorandum about future peace talks.
After his call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump spoke with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in hopes of making progress towards a ceasefire.
He also claimed that talks between Russia and Ukraine could be hosted by the Vatican. “Let the process begin,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
Shortly before Donald Trump called Russian president Vladimir Putin, US vice president JD Vance told reporters that Washington recognised there was „a bit of an impasse here“.
„And I think the president’s going to say to president Putin: ‚Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?'“ Mr Vance said as he prepared to depart from a visit to Italy.
„I think honestly that president Putin, he doesn’t quite know how to get out of the war,“ Mr Vance said.
He said it „takes two to tango. I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say, ‚This is not our war.'“
„We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say: ‚You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing any more.'“
Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War” after he spoke to Russian president Vladimir Putin yesterday.
Mr Trump spoke to his Russian counterpart in a two-hour long call where the two discussed expanding trade once the Ukraine war is over.
Here’s everything Mr Trump has said after the call:
On fresh sanctions to push Moscow into a peace deal:
„Well because I think there’s a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you can also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that’s going to happen.”
On ending US-led peace efforts:
Mr Trump said there were „some big egos involved.“ Without progress, „I’m just going to back away,“ he said, repeating a warning that he could abandon the process. „This is not my war.“
“… (I) have a red line in my head on when I’ll stop pushing on Russia-Ukraine,” he said.
On peace talks at the Vatican:
Mr Trump said the Vatican, „as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!“
Vladimir Putin was quick on the draw with an announcement that said nothing after his two-hour phone call with Donald Trump, as the Russian president grabbed the narrative before the Oval Office had figured out what the story even was.
Donald Trump claims his two-hour phone call with Vladimir Putin went ‘very well’, but it is the Russian president who calls the shots, writes Sam Kiley, The Independent’s world affairs editor:
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the „impressive“ prospects for improving ties between their two countries in a phone call on Monday, the Kremlin has said.
Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the two leaders had not discussed a timeline for a ceasefire in Ukraine, but that Trump had stressed his interest in reaching agreements quickly.
„The presidents also spoke in some detail about the future of our relations, and President Trump, I can say, spoke quite emotionally about the prospects for these relations,“ Ushakov said.
„He specifically emphasised that the prospects for bilateral relations after the Ukrainian conflict is resolved look impressive, and that as the president of the United States, he sees Russia as one of America’s most important partners in trade and economic matters.“
Donald Trump has said „it would be great“ for Russia and Ukraine to hold ceasefire talks at the Vatican, saying it would add extra significance to the proceedings.
“The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!” the US president said.
The Vatican has not issued a comment on Mr Trump’s remarks yet.
Volodymyr Zelensky, who has already met Pope Leo XIV twice now and spoken to him on the phone, welcomed the Vatican as a possible venue to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
„Ukraine is ready for direct negotiations with Russia in any format that brings results,“ Mr Zelensky said on X. He said that this could be hosted by Turkey, the Vatican or Switzerland.
The Vatican has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality and has long offered its services, and venues, to try to help facilitate talks.
Donald Trump has said Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire talks with the aim of bringing an end to the war as he divulged details of his highly-anticipated phone calls with leaders of the two nations yesterday.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said the call with Russian president Vladimir Putin went “very well” and the conditions of the ceasefire would be “negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of” and suggested that talks between the two nations could be hosted at the Vatican following an offer by Pope Leo XIV, the recently-elected American-born pontiff.
Andrew Feinberg in Washington, DC has the full story:
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump says ceasefire talks will begin immediately but Putin refuses to give timeline – The Independent
