The Russian and US presidents spoke on phone for over two hours
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin. © Sputnik / Alexander Kazakov
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. The conversation on Monday focused on the Ukraine conflict and a possible ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
The phone call was initially announced by Trump on Saturday. The US president said the discussion will focus on “stopping the ‘bloodbath’” between Russia and Ukraine, as well as on bilateral trade issues.
Moscow has described the upcoming conversation between the two presidents as “important,” with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating the call will be based on the results of the recent Turkish-mediated meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. Russia welcomes the US mediation role and sees the diplomatic path to resolving the Ukraine conflict as preferable, Peskov stressed on Monday.
“We highly value the United States’ mediating efforts – if they truly help us achieve our objectives by peaceful means,” he said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy and a key figure behind kickstarting the Ukraine peace process, has expressed hope that the call will be “very successful” and can help clear “some of the logjam” in the negotiations.
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19 May 2025
18:02 GMT
Russia “wants to do large-scale TRADE” with the US, Donald Trump has claimed, adding that the potential settlement of the conflict would help Ukraine to become “a great beneficiary” of trade as well.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED,” Trump wrote.
- 17:44 GMT
The conversation with Vladimir Putin “went very well” and its “tone and spirit” were “excellent, Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that 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,” The US president stated.
- 17:32 GMT
The recent resumption of direct talks with Kiev shows that the situation is generally steering “in the right direction,” Putin has said. “The issue is, of course, that both Moscow and Kiev should demonstrate maximum desire for peace and find compromises that would satisfy all parties,” he added.
“In general, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis,” Putin stated.
- 17:19 GMT
Moscow is ready to work with Kiev on a memorandum that envisions a future peace agreement between the two countries, Putin has said.
“We’ve agreed with the US president that Russia will propose and be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a potential future peace agreement, defining such positions as the principles of the settlement and the timeframe for a potential conclusion of the peace agreement, including [the announcement of] a possible ceasefire for a certain period of time,” the president stated.
- 17:06 GMT
“I thanked the president of the United States for US support in resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin stated.
- 16:53 GMT
Vladimir Putin has described the conversation with his US counterpart as “frank” and “quite useful.” The phone call went on for over two hours, the Russian president has said.
- 16:48 GMT
The conversation between Trump and Putin has concluded, and the Russian president is speaking to the press.
- 16:43 GMT
Putin and Trump have already been talking for about two hours.
- 16:31 GMT
US President Donald Trump is expected to speak by telephone with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky shortly after finishing his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, multiple media reports suggest. Trump and Zelensky had also reportedly spoken briefly ahead of the call with Putin.
- 15:43 GMT
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also confirmed that the Putin-Trump phone call is still underway, in comments to Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.
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