U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed to visit each other and commence immediate negotiations for the end of the war in Ukraine during a phone call, Trump revealed today.
The Kremlin confirmed the phone contact saying it lasted for one and a half hour.
Trump stated that their discussion covered key issues, including Ukraine, the Middle East, energy policies, artificial intelligence, and the status of the U.S. dollar. He emphasized that both leaders expressed a shared desire to halt the loss of life and bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
The American president also revealed that he would soon speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We also agreed that our teams will start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelensky of Ukraine to brief him on our discussion, which I will do right away,” Trump wrote in his post.
Russia’s state news agency Tass confirmed that the two leaders discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, and bilateral relations. The report also stated that Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow, and both leaders agreed to meet.
Earlier new U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ruled out the prospect of a return to the pre-2014 borders, calling the plan “an unrealistic objective”
“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering,” Hegseth noted.
Hegseth added that if any peacekeeping troops were deployed in Ukraine as a security guarantee, they would not be under the NATO umbrella.
