Trump says Ukraine talks to start 'immediately'

Putin, US president agree 'time has come to work together'

Listen to article

WASHINGTON:

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Wednesday and agreed to immediately start talks to end the Ukraine war, in an extraordinary thaw in relations that could leave Kyiv out in the cold.

Trump described the call as "lengthy and highly productive" in a post on Truth Social, saying the two leaders had also agreed to visit each other to address the deep tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and that Putin and Trump had agreed that the "time has come to work together".

"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Trump said, adding that they had discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, artificial intelligence and other subjects.

Trump said they agreed that "we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine" -- with Trump using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the Ukraine conflict.

"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's Nations," said Trump.

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine.

Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war "within 24 hours" before taking office and has been pushing for a peace settlement while remaining coy until now about any possible contact with Putin.

But in a sign that Ukraine could see its fate decided by Washington and Moscow, Trump said that "we will begin by calling President Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation."

Volodymyr Zelensky said he had discussed "opportunities to achieve peace" in a "meaningful" call with Trump, during which the US president had "shared details of his conversation with Putin."

Trump said after the conversation that Zelensky "like President Putin, wants to make PEACE."