Trump hails phone call with Putin as step towards peace

But Volodymyr Zelensky accuses Moscow of buying time. Is the Russian president abusing the sympathy in Washington?

- ALEX CROFT

A much-hyped phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday was followed by optimistic statements from the pair – but there are doubts over whether it marked any real progress towards peace in Ukraine.

Days after Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul met for the first time in three years, the White House had hoped this conversation would demonstrate Mr Trump’s influence in the Kremlin, as he tries to push his Russian counterpart towards a ceasefire.

The US president had expected a “productive day” in which he also spoke to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other Western leaders in a bid to end the bloodbath in Ukraine.

But the results appear to fall short of any concrete developments towards peace in Ukraine, instead merely laying the groundwork for more talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

What came out of the Trump-Putin call?

Mr Trump said on Truth Social that the call went “very well”, adding that Moscow and Kyiv will “immediately” begin ceasefire talks with the aim of bringing an end to the war.

The conditions of this ceasefire will be “negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of”, he said.

Mr Putin said he is prepared to work with Ukraine to establish a “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement”, but in his remarks did not address any of the other demands made by Washington and Europe, including a 30-day unconditional ceasefire to allow for long-term peace negotiations.