Trump and Putin agree to open talks on Ukraine
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The news: Donald Trump took his first major step into Ukraine diplomacy as US president, speaking separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to start negotiating an end to the war.
In a 90-minute phone call, Trump and Putin agreed to have their teams start negotiations immediately, Trump said on social media.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media Putin invited Trump to visit Moscow.
After his call with the Russian president, Trump then spoke with Zelenskiy for about an hour and then posted that “the conversation went very well” and that Zelenskiy, “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
The context: The call followed a US-Russia prisoner swap, which Trump suggested signalled Moscow’s willingness to negotiate.
American teacher Marc Fogel was released from a Russian prison, where he had been serving a 14-year sentence on drug charges.
In return, the US released Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national who pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy related to one of the world's largest virtual currency exchanges.
The US also secured the release of an American held in Belarus, according to Bloomberg.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had told NATO that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to regain all the territory it has lost since 2014 and that NATO membership was also not “a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
European leaders pushed back on Hegseth’s remarks, with Germany and Canada saying Ukraine must determine its own peace terms.
Trump’s negotiating team includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, according to Trump.
What they said: “I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
“We both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately,” he added.
Responding to Pete Hegseth’s remarks to NATO, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said “Ukraine wants peace, we want peace, the Americans want peace. The only one who has refused peace for the past three years was the Russian president.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Ukrainians get to decide what the outcome of that peace process must be.”
The sources: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Donald Trump's post
