President Trump said on Wednesday that he has a “lengthy and highly productive telephone call” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and characterizes him as the beginning of negotiations on the end of war in Ukraine.
It was the first confirmed interview between two men during the second term of office of Mr. Trump, when Mr. Trump explained to the advisors that finding the end of war supported by the US is a priority for its management.
“We discussed in Ukraine, the Middle East, energy, artificial intelligence, the power of the dollar and various other subjects,” Mr. Trump he wrote in a post on social media.
“We all talked about the strengths of our relevant nations AOs of the great advantage that we will ever have in cooperation,” Trump added. “First, but as we both agreed, we want to stop millions of deaths in war with Russia/Ukraine.” (It is estimated that there were several hundreds of thousands of deaths in the conflict
The US President said he was planning to inform President Volodymy Green from Ukraine that both countries plan to “let our relevant teams start negotiations immediately”. Mr. Zelenský’s office later said that the Ukrainian president spoke to Mr. Trump for an hour.
However, Mr. Trump did not say in his social media how Mr. Zelezky would take into account the negotiations that he and Mr. Putin had moved in motion. Mr. Trump has long been skeptical about Ukraine and has never warmed up to Mr. Zelena.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters that Mr. Putin’s call and Mr. Trump took almost an hour and a half.
He said that both men agreed to a personal meeting and that Mr. Putin invited Mr. Trump to visit Moscow, which Mr. Trump also mentioned in his contribution to the social media. Mr. Putin agreed with Mr. Trump that “it was time for our country to work together,” Peskov said.
In Ukraine, Mr. Putin told Mr. Trump about “the need to eliminate the main causes of the conflict,” Peskov said. It was a sign that Mr. Putin would not accept a simple ceasefire in Ukraine and seek wider concessions from Ukraine and the West before stopping fighting.
Ukrainians seem to face efforts in which they have a small lever effect. A call between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump came on the same day when US Defense Minister Pete HegSeth spoke at NATO headquarters, Brussels, said That it was a “unrealistic” goal for Ukraine to restore its boundaries, as was the case before 2014, when Russia attached Crimea. Mr. HegSeth added that the US does not support the desire of Ukraine to join NATO as part of a realistic peace plan.
He also suggested that Europe must take over a larger role in its own defense and repeat the point Mr. Trump has made for many years.
For Mr. Putin, the challenge was the main milestone who described the collapse of the western efforts for its isolation diplomatically after attacking Ukraine almost three years ago. Since November since the re -election of Mr. Trump, Russian President accumulated Mr. Trump’s praiseHe emphasized the Kremlin’s hope that the new American leader could transform Moscow’s relationship with Washington and return from the support of Ukraine.
In response to the reports of an interview between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin, the United Nations said on Wednesday that it welcomed any effort leading to peaceful conversations between Russia and Ukraine.
“We would appreciate any effort to solve the war in Ukraine, which would include Russian and Ukrainian parties, so if they are both willing to participate in the process, it would be a welcome development,” said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.
In his post on social media, Mr. Trump wrote that the American negotiating team would include Foreign Minister Marco Rubio; John Ratcliffe, Director of CIA; His national security advisor Michael Waltz and his envoy in the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Mr. Witkoff was in Moscow this week and won an American teacher Marc Fogelwho has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years.
Mr. Trump did not mention Keith Kellogg, retired by Mr. Trump as his envoy to Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Kellogg generally impressed more aggressive posture against Russia than some of Mr. Trump’s informal advisors and recently suggested that Mr. Trump could increase sanctions against Russia to force them to peace agreement.
Mr. Trump repeatedly refused to say whether he spoke to Mr. Putin before Wednesday, although individuals who would not know about such a call in the US government did not know about it, according to people informed about the president’s interviews.
Mr. Trump often admired notes about the Russian president, Who did he call “genius” After the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But in the first week of the second term of office, Mr. Trump was more critical and said that the Russian president should not attack Ukraine.
“He can’t be excited, he’s not doing so well,” Mr. Trump told journalists In an oval clerk for hours after he was inaugurated. “Russia is bigger, they have more soldiers to lose, but that is not a way to drive the country.”
Farsi Fassihi and Julian E. Barnes The report contributed.
