Trump says Putin agrees to start talks to end war in Ukraine
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a lengthy phone call in which they agreed their teams would begin negotiations on what could be an effort to end the war in Ukraine, something they also asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to do.
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had spoken by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the two had agreed to immediately begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government revealed that Trump also subsequently held a telephone conversation with President Zelensky. The White House confirmed the call, saying the conversation went very well and that Zelensky, like President Putin, wants to achieve peace.
According to the US president in a post on social media, during his call with Putin, both leaders highlighted the strengths of their respective nations and agreed on the importance of working together, very closely, to end the conflict. "First, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths being caused by the war between Russia and Ukraine," Trump wrote.
An agreement after a prisoner exchange
Trump's contacts with both leaders came after a prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow. Russia released American professor Marc Fogel, who was arrested in 2021 for drug possession and sentenced to 14 years in prison. In exchange, the United States released Alexander Vinnik, a Russian citizen charged with cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering who was extradited from Greece in 2017.
A first step towards peace in Ukraine?
The Kremlin has confirmed the conversation with Trump and the prisoner exchange, although it has avoided giving details about the Russian citizen released in the United States until his arrival in Russia. While Trump has hailed Fogel's release as a possible anchor for a peace deal in Ukraine, Moscow has been more cautious, although it has acknowledged that a prisoner swap could strengthen mutual trust between the two countries.