Minutes after his two-hour-long phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump declared on his Truth Social platform that Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire.
Describing his conversation with President Putin as a call that went "very well", he said that the negotiations are a significant step towards the "end of the war". The US President stressed that the conditions of the bilateral talks "will be negotiated between the two parties" directly. This, he said, was the only way forward "because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of."
CON-CALL WITH EUROPE AFTER 2-HOUR TALK WITH PUTIN
President Trump said that immediately after his phone call with Vladimir Putin, he held a conference call with Ukraine's President Zelensky, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Finland's President Alexander Stubb, informing them that bilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine "will begin immediately". The US President also said that "The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations."
Praising the Russian President for the way in which Monday's phone call was conducted, Mr Trump said, "The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent."
UNLIMITED POTENTIAL FOR RUSSIA-US TRADE'
Donald Trump, who has been claiming that he brings trade into all aspects of geopolitics, took another opportunity today to bring it up, saying, "Russia wants to do large scale trade with the United States when this catastrophic 'bloodbath' is over, and I agree." He added that this would allow Moscow to "create massive amounts of jobs and wealth" in the country drained of financial resources arising out of the war expenditure and sanctions imposed on it.
The potential for US-Russia trade is "unlimited" he said in his post on social media platform Truth Social. President Trump, who had claimed last week that "nobody uses trade the way I do", played that card when he spoke about Ukraine too. "Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on Trade, in the process of rebuilding its country," he mentioned.
'ON THE RIGHT PATH, SAYS PUTIN'
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the phone call with Trump as "useful". He acknowledged that last week's negotiations in Istanbul - the first direct talks between Ukraine and Russia since the start of the war - has "put the world on the right path" towards resolving the conflict in Ukraine. However, in an apparent message for Ukraine's Zelensky, the Russian President also urged for "compromises" in order to attain peace.
The Russian President underscored Moscow's willingness to "work" with Kyiv, speaking about a "memorandum" as a prelude to a possible peace deal.
President Putin also thanked his US counterpart for supporting the resumption of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv. He also said that the US President had taken note of Russia's support for peace in the region. "We have agreed with the President of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord, defining a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement," Mr Putin said.