U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine. .
Trump said the call with Putin will be about stopping the “bloodbath” in Ukraine, , reports AP.
“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his social networking site Truth Social.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in comments to Russian media that preparations were underway for Monday’s call.
Trump’s remarks came a day after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years failed to yield a ceasefire. Putin had spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations — although not at the presidential level — as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the U.S.
Also on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. During a visit to Rome, Rubio suggested that the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
In Ukraine, a northeastern town declared a period of mourning after a Russian drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from front-line areas, killing nine people, Ukrainian officials said. The strike came hours after the Russian and Ukrainian delegations left Istanbul, after agreeing to what would be the biggest prisoner swap to date between the warring parties.
Zelenskyy faces a gamble as talks stall
The talks in Istanbul on Friday broke up after less than two hours without a ceasefire, although both sides agreed on exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations. Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchange could happen as early as next week.
But the Kremlin has pushed back against a proposal by Ukraine and its Western allies for a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement, and the parties remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.
On Friday, Trump told reporters after boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Abu Dhabi that he may call Putin soon.
“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it, or maybe not,” Trump said. “At least we’ll know.”
Zelenskyy said that he had discussed the outcome of the talks with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland. In an X post from a European leadership meeting in Albania on Friday, Zelenskyy urged “tough sanctions” against Moscow if it rejects “a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings.”
Peskov on Saturday held open the possibility of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy, providing the agreed prisoner swap goes ahead, and if the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reached unspecified further “agreements.”
Peskov also told reporters that Moscow will present Ukraine with a list of conditions for a ceasefire, but gave no timeframe, or say what needed to happen before Zelenskyy and Putin can meet.
