Trump says he hopes for ceasefire advances before calling with Putin's Zelenskyy – Country
U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to make progress in the ceasefire in the Ukrainian war by calling separately Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday.
Trump expressed his hopes for Monday’s “productive day” and a ceasefire in a social media post over the weekend. His efforts will also include phone calls from NATO leaders.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to the media on Monday that Putin and Trump will speak at 10 a.m. (GMT) at 5 p.m., around 10 a.m. east, calling the conversation “important words, given the talks last week's talks in Istanbul” last week, the first such negotiations since March 2022.
Trump has been working to end a war that began with the Russian invasion in February 2022, making these conversations a serious test of his reputation as a dealmaker, as he claims that once he returns to the White House, he will quickly resolve the conflict, not even before he takes office.
“He was tired and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters before the call on Monday. “He made it clear to both sides that he wanted to see a peaceful resolution and a ceasefire as soon as possible.”
The Republican president is relying on the idea that his character and personal history are strong enough to break the deadlock in the battle.
“His sensitivity is that he has to speak to President Putin on the phone, which will clear some logjam and take us where we need to get there,” Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff said. “I think it will be a very successful call.”
Trump's frustration was built due to failure to end the war
Still, there are concerns that Trump has affinity for Putin, which could put any agreement designed by Ukraine with the U.S. government at a disadvantage.
Bridget Brink said she resigned from the resignation of Ukrainian ambassador to Ukraine last month: “Because the policy since the government began is to put pressure on Ukrainian victims, not on Russian aggressors.”
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Brink said the signs she needed to leave were like the Oval Office meeting in February, where Trump and his team publicly condemned Zelenskyy because they didn’t have enough respect for them.
“I believe peace is not peace at any price,” Brink said. “It's the foot, and as we know from history, it only leads to more wars.”
Trump's frustration with the war has been socializing on his Saturday's truth about the upcoming call.
Trump said his discussions with Putin would focus on the “bloody shrub” that stopped the war. It will also cover trade, suggesting that Trump may be seeking to use economic incentives to make some kind of consent amid a Russian invasion that has led to steady erosion of Moscow's ability to grow.
According to the Post, Trump's hope is that “a war that will never happen will end.”
His Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on NBC's “Meeting Media” on Sunday that Trump has made it clear that Putin's failure to achieve “sincere” negotiations could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.
Bessent suggested that sanctions that began during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were insufficient because they did not stop Russian oil revenues because of fears that doing so would raise U.S. prices. The United States is trying to limit Russia's oil revenues while preserving the country's oil exports to limit the damage caused by the war's inflation.
Putin recently rejected Zelenskyy's proposal to meet in Türkiye to replace a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington.
The talks ended on Friday less than two hours later, with no ceasefire. Still, the two countries are committed to exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war with Ukraine’s intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, who said on Ukrainian TV on Saturday that the exchange may have happened early this week.
Trump said Friday that Putin did not go to Turkey when summarizing his four-day trip to the Middle East because Trump himself was not there.
“He and I will meet, I think we will solve it, or maybe not,” Trump told reporters after he boarded the Air Force. “At least we will know. If we don't solve it, it will be very interesting.”
Zelenskyy met with Trump's vice president JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Rome on Sunday and met with European leaders and intensified his efforts on Monday's call.
The Ukrainian president said on social media site X that during talks with U.S. officials, they discussed the negotiations in Turkey, and that “the Russians sent a low-level delegation of non-decision makers.” He also said he stressed that Ukraine is having a “real diplomatic” ceasefire.
“We also talked about the need for Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situations and the upcoming prisoner exchange,” Zelenskyy said. “The pressure on Russia is needed until they are eager to stop the war.”
The German government said Prime Minister Friedrich Merz and French, British and Italian leaders spoke with Trump later on Sunday about the situation in Ukraine and his upcoming call with Putin. A brief statement did not provide details of the conversation, but said the plan was to continue the exchange directly after Trump-Putin's call.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X about X that Putin must make a statement on Monday that he hopes to peacefully accept the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and to receive support from Ukraine and Europe. ”
The Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday that the Kremlin launched the largest drone barrage against Ukraine since the Kremlin began its full invasion in 2022, and the Ukrainian Air Force said on Sunday that a total of 273 explosions of drones and baits were fired. These attacks target the country's Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
Witkoff on ABC Sunday
