US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Wednesday and agreed to immediately start Ukraine peace talks.
Image: Graphic by Se-Anne Rall/IOL
US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Wednesday and agreed to immediately start Ukraine peace talks, in an extraordinary thaw in relations that could leave Kyiv out in the cold.
Trump hailed the call as "lengthy and highly productive," with both agreeing to visit each other to address the deep freeze in ties since the Russian leader'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."
But the move sparked concerns that Ukraine will be left out of talks on its own fate, with Trump's defense chief delivering further blows by ruling out NATO membership and a return to Ukraine's old borders.
"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that they discussed Ukraine, the Middle East and "reflected on the Great History of our Nations."
Trump said they had "both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the conflict.
The Republican had promised to end the nearly three-year Ukraine war before taking office and has been pushing for a quick peace deal.
Trump said he and Putin had now agreed to "work together very closely, including visiting each other's Nations" and to "have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine.
He said that after speaking with Putin "we will begin by calling President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation."
The stunning development will however reinforce concerns in Kyiv that its future will be decided by the two nuclear-armed powers.
Zelensky said afterwards that he had a "meaningful" call with Trump in which he had "shared details" of his talks with Putin.
Trump said after the conversation that Zelensky "like President Putin, wants to make PEACE."
The Ukrainian leader is calling for tough security guarantees from Washington as part of any deal with Russia. Trump has meanwhile suggested a deal for Kyiv's rare earth minerals in exchange for its continued military aid.
Zelensky is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday at the Munich Security Conference, and met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Kyiv on Wednesday.
The Kremlin's statement on the call was more measured.
It said Putin "agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be reached through peace negotiations" but said he wanted to "address the root causes of the conflict," which Russian blames on western influence on Kyiv.
Putin had also invited Trump to visit Moscow, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
There had been signs of a thaw this week with a prisoner swap deal that saw Moscow free US teacher Marc Fogel and Belarus release a US citizen, while Washington released Russian cryptocurrency kingpin Alexander Vinnik.
Trump heaped praise on the Russian president in his Truth Social post, saying that Putin "even used my very strong Campaign motto of, 'COMMON SENSE.'" and thanking him for Fogel's release.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said that Russia was "a great competitor in the region, at times an adversary."
Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Putin in the past. Two investigations into alleged collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign resulted in a number of convictions but found no evidence of criminal cooperation.
Concern has also been mounting in Kyiv and European capitals about the shape of a possible deal.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth told European counterparts Wednesday that Ukraine's dream of returning to its pre-2014 borders was an "illusionary goal" -- and that Kyiv's wish for NATO membership was "not realistic."
Both are key demands of Moscow.
The French, German and Spanish foreign ministers insisted Wednesday that there could be "no just and lasting peace" without the involvement of Kyiv and its European partners.
AFP
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