US President Donald Trump said he will address separately Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, after a recent cycle of Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations in Turkey.
As reported by Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov, preparations for the call between Trump and Putin are in progress. The talks come after the first face-to-face Russian-Ukrainian delegation meeting since March 2022. Nevertheless, expectations of a ceasefire were sabotaged as Russian negotiators allegedly insisted that Ukraine pull back its troops from all the territories claimed by Moscow before a ceasefire.
Posting on Truth Social, Trump indicated his call with Putin would be at 10 a.m. Eastern. “The topics of the call will be ending the ‘bloodbath’ which is killing, on average, over 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian troops a week, and trade,” he wrote. Trump said he would call Zelenskyy later, as well as NATO officials, hoping a ceasefire deal could soon be made.
While Trump had volunteered to personally go to the negotiations in Turkey if Putin was going to attend, the Russian president chose to send negotiators. Although no ceasefire was agreed on, both parties decided on prisoner swaps of 1,000 each, although the timing is not clear.
Meanwhile, tensions remain high after a Russian drone strike in Ukraine’s Sumy region killed nine civilians, prompting Zelenskyy to demand stronger sanctions against Moscow. Russia claimed the target was a military site, while also reporting the capture of another village in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov talked over the war with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, thanking Washington for helping to revive diplomacy. Rubio later said that the US is weighing how serious Russia is about its intentions and indicated the Vatican as a possible venue for further talks.
The world now waits to hear if Monday’s entreaties will make progress towards ending the war.