Russia and Ukraine to immediately open ceasefire talks, Trump says

The long-awaited phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the war in Ukraine lasted two hours, and Putin boasted of scoring a point afterward. The talks between Russia and Ukraine “gives reason to believe that we are generally on the right track,” declared the Russian leader, who reiterated his overtures of peace to Trump while his bombs rain down on Ukrainian cities day after day. Putin remains reluctant to accept a ceasefire for fear that he will not be able to force Kyiv to capitulate in the future. Putin described the call with the Republican leader as ”frank and substantive."

“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, where he also revealed he had informed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European leaders of the outcome of the discussion. The Vatican has offered itself as a potential location to host the proposed talks between Russia and Ukraine.

On the White House side, the conversation had one essential objective: to determine whether Putin has genuine intentions of seeking peace. Trump had warned in previous weeks that he would impose new sanctions on Moscow if there was no progress on the part of the Kremlin to stop the fighting, although he had not raised that threat again pending the failed Istanbul talks last week. His vice president, J.D. Vance, indicated before the conversation that Trump is “more than open to walking away” from his mediating role if there is no progress.

Putin was the first to offer his conclusions from the telephone call. “The U.S. president expressed his position on the secession of hostilities, ceasefire, and from my end, I have emphasized that Russia stands for peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis. We just need to outline the most effective routes of moving towards peace,” the Russian leader said, a day after launching 273 drone strikes over Ukraine.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed Trump’s frustration with the stalled process. “I think the president has been quite clear that he’s been continually frustrated with both sides of this conflict,” she said before the call. “He wants to see this fighting end, he wants the war to end, and we believe we have leverage in negotiating a deal.”

But so far, Trump has generally been noticeably more sympathetic to Moscow’s positions than to Kyiv’s, raising concerns among Ukraine’s European allies that the U.S. president could reach an agreement with Russia that would end the war on terms unacceptable to the country under Russian attack.

Trump was also scheduled to speak by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, something CNN reported took place before his conversation with Putin. Following those calls, he will speak with leaders of NATO member states, after having spoken with European leaders throughout Saturday and Sunday.

Trump had announced on Saturday that he would speak with Putin and Zelenskiy Monday following the fiasco of last week’s peace talks in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, which were postponed for a day, eventually lasted just two hours, and were held only between mid-level delegations. The only tangible outcome was the commitment to exchange 1,000 prisoners per side, which could occur this week, and promises to continue peace talks.

The Istanbul talks had been organized at Putin’s own suggestion, but the Russian president decided at the last minute not to travel to the Turkish city, amid accusations from Ukraine that Moscow had only proposed the meeting to buy time and avoid international pressure for a temporary ceasefire.

Immediately before that negotiating session, and after learning that Putin would not be present, Trump had stated that there would be no major progress in Istanbul and that the only way to achieve any breakthrough would be through a meeting between him and the Russian leader. The Republican not only avoided criticizing his counterpart for not showing up for the talks, but also showed understanding: he asserted that Putin was only traveling because he thought Trump would also be there.

Before the call between the two leaders, Vance told reporters during his return from Rome, where he attended Pope Leo XIV‘s inaugural Mass, that the United States wants to “see outcomes.” “I think the president’s going to say to President Putin, ‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?’ Because the proposal from the United States has always been: Look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the rest of the world, but you’re not going to get those benefits if you keep on killing a lot of innocent people. If you’re willing to stop the killing, the United States is willing to be a partner for peace,” Vance said.

“I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn’t quite know how to get out of the war,” the vice president added, recalling that “it takes two to tango. I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say, ‘This is not our war.’ We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say: ‘You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing any more.’”

Over the weekend, numerous European leaders spoke with Trump or Vance to discuss the war and emphasize that it is Putin, not Zelenskiy, who is placing obstacles in the path to a ceasefire. Trump tends to be far more critical of the Ukrainian leader, whom he publicly berated in the Oval Office in February, than of the Russian leader, whom he describes as “very intelligent.” The Republican has falsely accused Zelenskiy of having provoked the war, or of being a “dictator,” while considering the Kremlin’s failure to fully occupy Ukraine a Russian “concession.” His tone, however, softened after the two met again at the funeral of the late Pope Francis in Rome on April 26.

This was the third call between the two leaders since Trump was inaugurated as president; at least that has been made public. The Washington Post revealed in November of last year that Trump maintained direct contact with Putin even before returning to the White House. In their last phone call, on March 18, the two leaders agreed to a ceasefire regarding energy infrastructure, which was violated from the first day.

Putin has been tempting Trump with new business deals since their bilateral negotiations began in February. This time, the Russian president used his call with the American leader to promote the Sirius Center, an autonomous territory founded 10 years ago in southern Russia as a supposed technology incubator and talent acquisition center. The Kremlin emphasized Monday that the conversation with Trump took place from this state-funded business center.

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