Donald Trump yesterday discussed the war in Ukraine in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the new US President’s first big step towards diplomacy over a war he has promised to end.
In a post on his social media platform after speaking to Putin, Trump said they “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately,” and that he would begin by phoning Zelenskiy.
After a call with the Ukrainian leader, Trump said: “The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
Zelenskiy’s office said Trump and Zelenskiy spoke by phone for about an hour, while the Kremlin said Putin’s call with Trump lasted nearly an hour and a half.
“I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We... talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together ...and Ukraine’s technological capabilities... including drones and other advanced industries,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.
The Kremlin said Putin and Trump had agreed to meet, and Putin had invited Trump to visit Moscow.
There has been speculation that the two leaders could meet in a third country, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE seen as possible venues, according to Russian sources.
Earlier yesterday, Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, delivered the new administration’s bluntest statement so far on its approach to the war, saying it was unrealistic for Kyiv to hope to recover all of Ukraine’s territory occupied by Russia since 2014, as was securing its membership in Nato.
Along with Putin inviting Trump to Moscow, there were other signs that the two countries may be trying to improve strained relations.
The Kremlin said the prisoner swap that got under way on Tuesday could help build trust between the two countries.
Russia on Tuesday freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who was serving a 14-year sentence in a Russian prison, in exchange for a Russian cybercrime boss imprisoned in the US, according to an official.
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