U.S. President Donald Trump announced after a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that "Russia and Ukraine will immediately initiate ceasefire negotiations and, more importantly, negotiations to end the conflict." Trump said on the "Truth Social" platform: "The terms of the ceasefire will be negotiated by both parties and can only be determined by both parties, because they know the details of the negotiations and others have no way of knowing." He added, "The tone and atmosphere of the call were very good."
Trump further said: "When this disastrous conflict is over, Russia wants to engage in large-scale trade with the United States, and I agree with that. Russia has a huge opportunity to create a lot of jobs and wealth, and its potential is unlimited." He also said that Ukraine "can also benefit significantly from trade."
Trump revealed that after the call ended, he immediately informed the following leaders of the contents of the call: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz, and Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
He also said that the Vatican has offered to host relevant negotiations. Trump added: "The Vatican, on behalf of the Pope, has expressed great interest in hosting negotiations. Let the process begin!"
Putin called the call "very candid" and "valuable" and said he had reached an agreement with Trump that Russia would cooperate with Ukraine on the details of a memorandum on a potential future peace treaty, including "things such as the principles of a solution, the timing of a potential peace agreement, and the possibility of a ceasefire for a period of time, subject to an appropriate agreement."
Speaking to reporters in Sochi late Monday, Putin gave no details on the conditions needed to reach a solution with Ukraine or the timing of a ceasefire.
"The most important thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis," Putin said. He said last week's first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in three years in Istanbul marked that the peace process was "on the right track."
This is the third officially announced phone call between Trump and Putin since he returned to the White House in January this year. Trump also had a phone call with Ukrainian President Zelensky earlier.