WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” start cease-fire negotiations in their 39-month-old war following a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin — who said Moscow was not ready for peace until the “root cause” of the “crisis” is addressed.
“Just completed my two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on Truth Social. “I believe it went very well. Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War.”
“The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent,” the president added. “If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later. Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic “bloodbath” is over, and I agree. There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED. Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country.”
The 78-year-old added that he had relayed details of his talk with Putin to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with “Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of Germany, and President Alexander Stubb, of Finland.”
“The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations,” Trump concluded. “Let the process begin!”
Putin described the conversation in a statement as “frank and meaningful,” adding that he was thankful for Trump’s initiative to have direct talks with both belligerent leaders.
“Russia is ready to work with Kyiv on a memorandum on a future peace treaty which could include issues of a cease-fire and principles for resolving the conflict,” the 72-year-old said after the call before adding that there is a “need to work out the most effective paths toward peace” that would be suitable to “all sides.”
Russia’s “position on the whole is known,” Putin added, a reference to his baseless claims in 2022 that Moscow was invading Ukraine to “de-Nazify” the country and save Russian-speaking residents of Ukraine from oppression by Kyiv.
Ukrainian and Russian officials met face-to-face on Friday in Turkey for the first time in more than three years, opting to hold talks despite Putin declining to attend.
The two sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war from each side and pledged to return to the negotiating table with respective visions for establishing a cease-fire.
Earlier Monday, Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Air Force Two that the Trump administration wanted to see if Putin was “serious about negotiating peace” — and was “more than open to walking away” if he wasn’t.
“The president has been very clear,” Vance said. “There’s 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?’”
Without serious movement, the veep said, the Trump administration will call Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War “Joe Biden’s war” — and will stop trying to mediate.
“It’s not our war. We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we are eventually going to say, ‘that was worth a try, but we’re not doing it anymore.’”
Going into the phone call, the Kremlin indicated that Putin had a hard line from where he wants to negotiate from.
“The conversation is important, taking into account the negotiations held in Istanbul,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters before the call, per TASS.
“As for the talks, we [in the Kremlin] have already said everything we could, we underscored the basic points.”
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova specifically said Putin was committed to the plan he proposed on June 14, 2024, TASS reported.
The conditions Putin laid out at the time included Ukraine withdrawing all troops from the eastern Donbas region, committing to never joining NATO, lifting all Western sanctions on Russia, making Ukraine agree to being non-aligned and non-nuclear and commit to allowing the Russian language to be taught in schools.
