Trump leaves Russia and Ukraine to settle war in talks

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Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine would begin negotiations “immediately” on preparations for peace talks, but added that he was leaving Moscow and Kyiv to find a deal without the US as a broker.

After a two-hour call with Vladimir Putin, Trump posted that “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War”.

But in separate comments the Russian president sounded far more tentative about any process and did not spell out a substantive change in the Kremlin’s stance.

In remarks that indicated that Washington may be stepping back from a role as a mediator, Trump said the “conditions” for a deal could only be negotiated by the warring parties “because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of”.

He also said the Vatican would be “very interested” in hosting the talks, adding: “Let the process begin!”

In his own, more guarded readout of the conversation, Putin said he was “ready to work” with Kyiv on a memorandum to frame future talks, which could include a possible ceasefire “for a certain amount of time”.

Putin told a state media reporter that the conversation with Trump had been “very candid and therefore very useful”. But he did not announce any major shifts in Russia’s position on the war in Ukraine.

“We agreed with the US president that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum about the possible future peace agreement,” the Russian president said.

He added that the memorandum would include “the principles on which a peace agreement would be based, the timing of a possible peace agreement” and “a possible ceasefire for a certain amount of time, if certain agreements are reached”.

Putin also said that Russia’s main objective was still “to eliminate the root causes of this crisis”, in language that signalled his key demands remain unchanged.

Last week, his negotiators demanded that Kyiv withdraw from swaths of its territory, including the cities of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and threatened to occupy more territory should Ukraine refuse.

Trump also said that immediately after the call with Putin, he gave his account of the conversation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and the European Commission.

One person familiar with the conversation said the leaders on the call were stunned by the US president’s description of what was agreed. They added it was clear Trump was “not ready to put greater pressure” on Putin to come to the negotiating table in earnest.

Merz said all participants in the call “reaffirmed their willingness to closely support Ukraine on its path toward a ceasefire”.

The phone call came after Putin last week refused to attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey that he himself initiated, prompting Trump to say that “nothing is going to happen” until he and the Russian president met in person.

Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have accelerated in recent weeks, with Russia and Ukraine holding direct talks in Istanbul on Friday, their first since the start of the three-year war.

Trump vowed to end the war on day one of his second term but peace has proven elusive, with both sides still far apart.

In European capitals, leaders fear that Trump could cut a deal with Putin that accedes to his maximalist demands and sells out Ukraine’s interests in his haste to end the fighting.

Additional reporting by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Berlin