The call lasted 2 1/2 hours, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.
Trump set to talk to Putin about potential ceasefire against UkraineThis will be the first time President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin are known to have spoken since Ukraine agreed to the U.S.-proposed 30-day ceasefire plan.
President Donald Trump held a high-stakes call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as he tries to win his approval for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine.
A White House readout of the call said Putin supports Trump’s idea for a mutual pause on energy infrastructure attacks.
“Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace,” according to the White House readout. “They also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations between the United States and Russia.The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people.”
“This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts,” the White House added. “The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace. These negotiations will begin immediately in the Middle East.”
Trump and Putin also spoke about the Middle East more broadly, including Iran.
“The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside,” the readout stated .”This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”
The conversation lasted 2 1/2 hours, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Tass, a Russian state media outlet.
The encounter was the first known call between Trump and Putin since peace talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials a week ago in Saudi Arabia yielded Kyiv agreeing to an immediate, temporary stop to hostilities, should Russia do the same.
Trump projected optimism ahead of the phone call, saying that “a lot of work” had been done over the weekend.
“Maybe we can. Maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance,” Trump had told reporters.
But Putin had been noncommittal on the proposal while fighting intensifies in Kursk.
Putin said last week he was “for” a ceasefire but raised concerns and set out his own conditions, such as certain security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, has accused the Russian leader of obstructing peace and “prolonging” the war.
Trump on Monday said the only reason he was involved in negotiations is “for humanity.”
“A lot of people are being killed over there. And we had to get Ukraine to do the right thing. It was not an easy situation. You got to see a little glimpse at the Oval Office, but I think they’re doing the right thing right now. And we’re trying to get a peace agreement done. We want to get a ceasefire and then a peace agreement,” he said.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy will monitor the conversation between Trump and Putin with caution and great interest, a Ukrainian official informed about the matter told ABC News.
“We agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal with zero conditions, and if Putin is gonna start playing with Trump setting demands — it will not work,” the source added.
A key question moving forward is how far Trump will go in pressuring Russia to agree to a ceasefire and ultimately bring an end to the three-year conflict, which began when Putin’s forces invaded its sovereign neighbor.
The Trump administration took drastic steps in stopping military aid and pausing some intelligence sharing with Ukraine after the Oval Office clash between Trump and Zelenskyy. Those two tools resumed after Ukraine agreed to the ceasefire last Tuesday.
Plus, U.S. officials have said it would be unrealistic for Ukraine to return to its prewar borders and expressly ruled out its bid for NATO membership.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has not publicly made similar demands of Putin.
Trump on Sunday said land and power plants were on the table for Tuesday’s discussion, as well as “dividing up certain assets” between the two countries.
“Well, I think we’ll be talking about land. It’s a lot of land. It’s a lot different than it was before the wars, you know? And we’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants. That’s a big question, but I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much by both sides,” he told reporters on Air Force One.
Trump last week said his administration could ramp up pressure on Russia but hoped it wouldn’t be “necessary.”
“There are things you could do that wouldn’t be pleasant in a financial sense,” he said. “I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia. I don’t want to do that because I want to get peace.”
