Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday on his social media platform. His statement follows a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.
The conditions of future talks will be set by Ukraine and Russia, “because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” Trump stated on Truth Social. His comments came as Russia and Ukraine are largely in a bloody standoff more than four years after Putin’s full-on invasion.
As a carrot for Putin, Trump held out the possibility of future U.S. investment in Russia.
“Russia wants to do largescale TRADE with the United States when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over, and I agree,” the U.S. president posited. “There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.”
Trump has suggested he could seek an end to the sanctions that have hurt the Russian economy, however, he did not specify what increased trade with Russia would look like.
Ukraine too, can benefit, Trump added.
“Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its Country,” Trump suggested. He offered no specifics on that either.
“The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent,” Trump said of his call with Putin. “If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later.”
Speaking to reporters after the call, Putin called it “very informative and quite frank” and thanked Trump for U.S. support for the resumption of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on a possible conclusion of the peace agreement.
“Russia is also is in favor of a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” the Russian leader claimed. “We should simply identify the most effective ways to move toward peace. We have agreed with the President of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace treaty defining several points, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the terms of a possible conclusion of the peace agreement and so on, including a possible ceasefire for a certain period of time if appropriate agreements are reached.”
Prior to talking with Putin, Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the two spoke for a few minutes, Axios reported.
After the call, Trump said he spoke with Zelensky as well as “Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, President Emmanuel Macron, of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of Germany, and President Alexander Stubb, of Finland.”
Trump’s call to Putin came amid growing White House frustration at the pace of talks to end the war.
“We realize there’s a bit of an impasse here, and I think the president’s going to say to President Putin, ‘look, are you serious?’” Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Monday before the call. “‘Are you real about this? Because the proposal from the United States has always been, look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the rest of the world, but you’re not going to get those benefits you keep on killing a lot of innocent people.’ So if you’re willing to stop the killing, the United States is willing to be a partner for peace. That’s been the proposal to the Russians, to the Ukrainians, and, frankly, to nations and other hot spots around the world.”
“I’d say we’re more than open to walking away” from the peace process, Vance added. “The president’s been very clear. The United States is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes. And the first major outcome that we wanted to see, which we were glad about, is that we wanted the Russians, the Ukrainians, to put a real peace proposal on the table.”
In a post on Telegram, Zelensky confirmed he spoke with Trump twice today, once before the call and again after with the aforementioned NATO leaders.
“This is a defining time,” he stated. “Now the world can see whether its leaders have the capacity to ensure an end to the war and the establishment of a real, lasting peace. At the beginning of the bilateral conversation, I confirmed to President Trump that we in Ukraine are ready for a complete and unconditional ceasefire, as the United States, in particular, has been talking about.”
The Ukrainian leader, however, said that Russia must be punished should the fighting not end.
“It is important not to dilute this offer,” Zelensky explained. “If the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions for that. Pressure on Russia will encourage it to make real peace – this is obvious to everyone in the world. I also reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready for direct negotiations with Russia in any format that will yield results. Turkey, the Vatican, Switzerland – we are considering all possible venues.”
“Together with European leaders, we have already discussed possible further steps, including meetings of negotiators and an objective assessment of the parties’ proposals,” he added.
Zelensky also urged the United States to remain committed to the peace process.
“Each proposal on the table deserves an honest look, and that is why both American and European representatives should be involved in the negotiation process at a certain level,” he put forth. “It is very important for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the negotiations and achieving peace, because the only one interested in this is Putin. Thank you all for supporting this approach. If Russia does not stop the killings, if it does not release prisoners and hostages, if Putin puts forward unrealistic conditions, then this will mean that Russia continues to drag out the war and deserves that Europe, America and the whole world behave accordingly, including responding with additional sanctions. Russia must end the war that it started, and it can do so any day. Ukraine is always ready for peace.”
On Sunday, Zelensky met with Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome, and he said that Ukraine is open to negotiations.
“During our talks we discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low-level delegation of non-decision-makers,” Zelensky stated on X. “I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible. We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange. Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war. And, of course, we talked about our joint steps to achieve a just and durable peace. Thank you to all American people for the support and leadership in saving lives.”
The renewed push toward peace follows the first direct peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in three years on Friday that ended with scant discernible progress made toward ending the war. The talks in Istanbul lasted less than two hours. However, the two sides did agree to swap prisoners.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Russia is making incremental gains in eastern Ukraine at a tremendous cost in personnel and equipment but little territory has changed hands. Russia still occupies about 20 percent of Ukraine, including all of Crimea.
In his Truth Social post, Trump stated that the “Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!”
While there is an increased sense of optimism following Trump-Putin call, there is a long way to go before the fighting stops. Russia has appeared to stall any tangible movement on stopping the war in the face of Trump’s repeated attempts to get them to the negotiating table since taking office. How this will be any different isn’t clear.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com