Trump to Call Putin and Zelenskyy Monday in Bid to End Ukraine War
'I will be speaking, by telephone, to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday, at 10:00 a.m.,' Trump
Trump added that he would then speak with Zelenskyy and various NATO allies to build support for ending what he called 'a war that should have never happened.'
'Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war will end,' Trump wrote. 'God bless us all!'
Trump's remarks come on the heels of the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv since 2022, which were held in Istanbul on May 16 and failed to yield a cease-fire. The talks, which lasted nearly two hours,
Putin had proposed holding negotiations 'without preconditions,' but rejected Zelenskyy's request for a face-to-face meeting. In response, Zelenskyy sent a lower-level delegation, led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, to meet with a Russian team headed by Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky.
Both sides confirmed the prisoner exchange deal, but offered few additional details. Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said the swap could take place as early as next week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on any further conditions discussed at the talks, telling reporters in Moscow on Saturday that negotiations 'are taking place behind closed doors, just as they should—to ensure they are productive.'
Peskov added that Russia plans to present Ukraine with a list of cease-fire conditions but did not specify a timeline. He also did not rule out a future meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, saying it would depend on the success of the prisoner exchange and progress in further talks.
In a separate development, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke by phone on May 17 to discuss the outcome of the Istanbul meeting and the broader contours of the cease-fire. Rubio said in a
'The U.S. has presented a strong peace plan and we welcome the Prisoner of War exchange agreement reached in Istanbul,' Rubio wrote. 'Let's not miss this huge opportunity. The time for ending this war is now.'
Lavrov 'noted the US' positive role' in getting Ukraine to return to the negotiating table and confirmed Moscow's willingness to continue diplomatic engagement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said,
Zelenskyy, for his part, expressed frustration with the stalled talks and reiterated Ukraine's call for a full, unconditional cease-fire.
'Ukraine has long been offering this—a full and unconditional ceasefire in order to save lives. Russia retains nothing but the ability to continue killing,' Zelenskyy said in a post on social media on Saturday. He accused Russian forces of deliberately targeting civilians, citing a drone strike on a bus evacuating residents from the Sumy region that killed nine people. 'All the deceased were civilians,' he said. 'This was a deliberate killing of civilians.'
Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces struck a military site in Sumy but did not mention any civilian casualties.
Zelenskyy also called for harsher sanctions on Moscow if it refuses to pursue serious peace efforts. 'Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy,' he wrote on social media.
Trump, speaking to Fox News in an
'I think we'll make a deal,' he said. 'We have to get together, and I think we'll probably schedule it.'
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