Donald Trump said he and Vladimir Putin had agreed to start to enter into negotiations to end the war in Ukraine “immediately” as the war continues to grind on
President Donald Trump has claimed Russia and the US have agreed to start negotiations “immediately” to bring an end to the war in Ukraine
In a post shared to Trump’s social media platform TruthSocial, the Republican president said: “We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now.”
Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin has a “lengthy and highly productive call” where they discussed Ukraine and bringing an end to the war. The US President added he asked his Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others to lead the negotiations.
The president’s comments come following the release of US teacher Marc Fogel who was released by Russia after being held in prison in the country. Mr Fogel praised president Trump and met the Republican at the White House after his return to the US.
Trump added: “I feel strongly [the negotiations] will be successful. “Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end,” he continued in the TruthSocial post.
“No more lives should be lost. I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon.”
Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov today confirmed the conversation between the two leaders had happened. He added: “The telephone conversation between President Putin and US leader Donald Trump has just ended.
“It was a very long phone call, it lasted almost an hour and a half.” Trump previously said he wanted to speak with the Russian president on several occasions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement shared to Telegram: “[I] Just spoke with Donald Trump. We had a long conversation. About the possibilities of achieving peace.
“About our readiness to work together at the team level. About our technological capabilities, including drones and other modern production. I am grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can do together. We discussed our conversation with Scott Bessant and the preparation of our new agreement on security and economic and resource cooperation. President Trump informed me of the details of his conversation with Putin. Ukraine wants peace more than anyone. “
Member of the Ukrainian Parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko told The Mirror: “I welcome the fact that they started negotiations. President Trump was very clear from the very beginning that he is going to do this, and he is doing this. That’s a good thing.”
Donald Trump repeated his goal of ending the war in Ukraine within a single day during his successful campaign in the race to the White House.
In an extraordinary move, Trump also said both agreed both leaders should be “visiting each other’s nations.” The move would fly in the face of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Putin which agreed to be acted upon by the US’s allies, including the UK.
The ICC called for Putin’s arrest, should he enter a country where the court is effective that he should be apprehended, although the US withdrew its signature. The ICC issued the warrant for his arrest due to his alleged responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied regions to Russia.
