Trump calls for quick ceasefire negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

Russia and Ukraine will begin ceasefire talks right away, according to President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin, who spoke on Monday. However, the Kremlin stated that an agreement would take time, and Trump stated he was not prepared to join Europe in imposing new sanctions to put pressure on Moscow.

In a social media post, Trump claimed that after his meeting with the Russian leader, he shared the plan with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, and the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany, and Finland during a group call.

Trump declared, “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” and he added later at the White House that he believed “some progress is being made.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote in an X post late Monday that after Trump briefed European leaders on his call with Putin, they agreed to impose more sanctions on Russia.

Trump didn’t seem prepared to do the same. When asked why he hadn’t threatened to implement more sanctions to pressure Moscow into a peace agreement, Trump responded as follows:

“Well, I believe there is a possibility that something will be accomplished, but doing so might also make things far worse. However, that might occur at some point in the future.”

According to Trump, “some big egos involved.” “I’m just going to back away,” he repeated, threatening to stop the process if there was no progress. “This is not my war.”

Putin told Trump that war-ending efforts were “generally on the right track” and that Moscow was prepared to negotiate a possible peace agreement with Ukraine.

He told reporters close to the Black Sea resort of Sochi that “we have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord.”

Trump has concentrated on persuading Putin to sign a 30-day truce, while European leaders and Ukraine have called for Russia to quickly agree to a ceasefire. Putin has objected, stating certain criteria must be fulfilled first.

According to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, Trump and Putin discussed exchanging nine Russians for nine Americans in a prisoner swap but did not establish a date for a ceasefire. According to him, the U.S. leader described the potential for Washington-Moscow relations as “impressive.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian state news outlets as stating that Moscow and Kyiv had “complex contacts” to create a single peace and ceasefire memorandum draft.

“Deadlines cannot exist and there are none. The RIA agency cited him as stating, “It is evident that everyone wants to complete this as soon as possible, but, of course, the devil is in the details.”

Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden, stated on X that the conversation with Trump was “undoubtedly a win for Putin.” Putin “deflected the call for a … immediate ceasefire and instead can continue military operations at the same time as he puts pressure on at the negotiating table.”

ELECTRONIC MEETING

After talking with Trump, Zelenskiy stated that as part of an effort to put an end to the war, Kyiv and its allies may try to arrange a high-level summit with Ukraine, Russia, the US, EU nations, and Britain.

He expressed his hope that Turkey, the Vatican, or Switzerland would host this event in the near future. Whether this would be included in the talks that Trump claimed would begin right away was unclear at first.

According to Trump, Pope Leo had indicated interest in holding the talks at the Vatican. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Vatican.

Participants were “shocked” that Trump did not want to press Putin with penalties, according to a person familiar with Trump’s call with the leaders of Ukraine and Europe.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, wrote on X that the discussion with Trump was “good” and that it was “important that the U.S. stays engaged.”

In order to prevent Trump from putting additional pressure on Ukraine’s economy, Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of not engaging in sincere negotiations.

Given his apparent sympathy for Russia and his dismantling of his predecessor Joe Biden’s pro-Ukraine policy, Trump’s imposition of additional sanctions would be historic.

For the first time since 2022, during the early months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, representatives from the warring nations convened in Istanbul last week under Trump’s prodding, but the negotiations did not result in a truce.

After Putin rejected Zelenskiy’s suggestion that they meet in person in Istanbul, the likelihood of progress dwindled, and Trump declared that no progress would be made unless he and Putin met.

Putin has been steadfast in his demands for the war to cease, and his soldiers now hold a fifth of Ukraine and are moving forward.

According to him, the agreement that Russia and Ukraine would draft regarding a potential peace deal would specify “a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement.”

“The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis,” Putin stated. “We just need to determine the most effective ways to move towards peace.”