Key Points
- Donald Trump had a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin on a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
- Trump said Russia and Ukraine would immediately begin negotiations for a ceasefire following the call.
- Putin called the conversation "useful" but has not agreed to the unconditional 30-day ceasefire proposed by Trump.
United States President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine would immediately start ceasefire talks after he spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin overnight, but the Kremlin leader fell short of agreeing to the unconditional truce proposed by the US.
Trump painted a more upbeat picture of the situation after the two-hour call, as he desperately seeks a deal to end a grinding conflict he had promised on the election trail to solve within 24 hours.
Putin said he was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum towards a possible peace deal after the "useful" call — but insisted that more compromises were necessary to end the war that started in February 2022.
"Just completed my two-hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. I believe it went very well," Trump said on his Truth Social network.
"Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war."
Trump said the "tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent," after the US president had shown signs of increasing frustration with the Kremlin leader.
Trump recently called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine agreed, but Putin has so far held off on any such truce.
The Vatican — where Pope Leo XIV was recently elected as the first US pontiff — would be "very interested" in hosting the Russia-Ukraine talks, Trump said.
Putin was more circumspect, even as he appeared to give one of the most concrete signs yet of being ready to discuss an end to Russia's invasion of its neighbour.
"It was very informative and very open and overall, in my opinion, very useful," Putin told Russian media after the call.
He said Russia would "propose and will be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement defining a range of positions".
His comments left many details unclear, however, including on the timing and contents of the document.
Putin said while talks with Ukraine last week in Istanbul had put the world "on the right path" to resolving the conflict, more "compromises" were still needed.
Trump briefly spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before Putin, with the Ukrainian leader urging him to toughen sanctions against Russia if it did not agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official told Agence France-Presse.
Trump said he had "informed" Zelenskyy, European Commission president Ursula von Der Leyen and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Finland of the resumption of peace talks in a call immediately after his conversation with Putin.
