Trump, Putin speak about ceasefire

President: Negotiations 'will begin immediately'

By: Guy Faulconbirdge
Steve Holland
and Max Hunter
Reuters

..... President Donald Trump spoke to Russia's Viadimir Putin about Ukraine on May 19 [2025] after Vice President JD Vance said Washington could walk away form the peace process and conclude that "this is not our war."
..... Trump said his call with Putin went very well and that Moscow and Kyiv would immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and end to the war.
..... "Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately," Trump said in a Truth Social post following his call with Putin, which lasted two hours.
..... Trump said he held a joint call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as the leader of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland following his call with Putin. Trump informed those leaders that negotiations would start immediately, he said.
..... Trump floated the idea of newly installed Pope Leo as host for the talks, saying: "The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hoisting the negotiations."
..... Trump said that the "tone and spirit of the conversation (with Putin) were excellent," and that Russia wanted to do "large-scale" trade with the United States once the war is over.
..... He said that Ukraine would also benefit from trade "in the process of rebuilding its country."
..... Russian state media cited Putin as saying that he had an informative and useful call with Trump and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about future peace talks.
..... The media reports said the call lasted for more than two hours and that Putin had said a ceasefire with Ukraine was possible once agreements were reached.
..... The RIA news agency said Putin had said in the call that "we're generally on the right track,: while the TASS news agency reported he said that Russia and Ukraine must find compromises that suit both sides.
..... A source familiar with the matter said Zelenskyy spoke "for a few minutes" with Trump before the U.S. leader's call with Putin.
..... Trump, who has promised to bring a swift end to Europe's deadliest war since World War II, has repeatedly called for a ceasefire after three years when Washington joined other Western countries in arming Ukraine.
..... Under pressure form Trump, delegates form the warring countries met May 16 [2025] in Istanbul for the first time since 2022, through they failed to agree to a truce.
..... Kyiv says it is ready for a ceasefire now; Moscow says conditions must be met first.
..... European leader have said they want the United States to join them in imposing tough new sanctions on Russia for refusing a ceasefire. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy spoke to Trump on May 18 [2025] ahead of his call with Putin.
..... Putin was speaking form Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi while Trump was in Washington.
..... Shortly before the call, Vance told reporters hat Washington recognized there was "a bit of an impasse here."
..... "And I think the president's going to say to President Putin: 'Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?' " Vance said as he prepared to depart from a visit to Italy.
..... "I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn't quite know how to get out of the war," Vance said.
..... He said it "takes two to tango. I know the president;s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we're eventually just going to say, "This is not our war."
..... "we're going to try to end it, but if we can't end it, we're eventually going to say: 'You know what? That it was worth a try, but we're not doing any more.' "
..... White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump wanted to see a ceasefire, but that he had grown "weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict."
..... Asked if a package of secondary sanctification Russia remains on the table, she said: "I think everything's on the table."

Peace or war

..... The Ukrainian president;s office did not immediately comment when asked about the call between Zelenskyy and Trump, and there was no immediate word about it from the White House.
..... Putin, whose forced control a fifth of Ukraine and are advancing has stood firm on his conditions for ending the war, despite public and private pressure from Trump and repeated warnings from European powers.
..... On May 18, [2025] Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the start of the war.
..... In June 2024, Putin said Ukraine must officially drop its ambitions to join NATO and withdraw its troops form the entire territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia.
..... After the European leaders' phone call with Trump on May 18, [2025] French President Emmanuel Macron said on X: "Tomorrow President Putin must show he wants peace by accepting he 30-dy unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe."
..... Putin is wary of a ceasefire and says fighting cannot be paused until conditions are met, including a halt to Western arms for Kyiv.
..... European leaders say Putin is not serious about peace. they worry that Trump may abandon support for Kyiv, forcing it to accept a punitive peace deal that would leave Ukraine shorn of a fifth of its territory and lacking a strong security guarantee against possible future attack.
..... Before Trump returned to office this year, [2025] Washington joined Western European leaders and Ukraine in describing Russia's invasion as an imperial-style land grab.
..... Trump's administration has shifted U.S. policy toward accepting some of Russia's account of the conflict, which Moscow says it launched because of a security threat from Ukraine;s drift toward the West.

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