US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke for more than two hours on Monday after which Putin asserted that Moscow was ready to work toward ending fighting in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.
Furthermore, the Russian President also said that Russia was in favor of a “peaceful settlement” and that compromises would need to be found to suit both parties. He also described the conversation with Trump as “frank and meaningful." However, the White House did not immediately provide its own account of the call.
Trump expressed his hopes for a “productive day” Monday, and a ceasefire, in a social media post over the weekend. However, earlier, the White House mentioned that the US leader has grown “frustrated" with the conflict and planned a separate call with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well.
Trump on Saturday announced that he planned to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss ending the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
“I will be speaking, by telephone, to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday, at 10:00 a.m.,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade."
This came a day after direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, the first since early 2022, resulted in an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners each according to AFP.
After three years of war between Russia and Ukraine, the ceasefire talks between the two countries took a hit on last Friday after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rejected the offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in person in Turkey.
However, this will still be the first direct talk between the two countries since March 2022 when the war began, as a delegation led by Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov was dispatched to Istanbul.
Zelenskyy said that the Russian delegation did not include “anyone who actually makes decisions”, AP reported.
"We can't be running around the world looking for Putin," Zelenskiy said after meeting Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, as per Reuters.
