After phone calls with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts on Feb. 12, President Donald Trump announced Russia is ready to “start negotiations immediately” to end its war with Ukraine.
“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social media account, as he announced the first of his two calls.
The call is Trump’s first known direct conversation with Putin since returning to the White House, and comes as the full-scale Russia-Ukraine war is nearing the three-year mark.
“First, as we both agreed, we want to stop the … deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,”Trump wrote.
Shortly after wrapping his call with Putin, Trump got on the line with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fill him in on the first call and keep the talks moving.
“The conversation went very well,” Trump said in a second Truth Social post recounting his call with Zelenskyy. “He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
Zelenskyy also met in-person with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday, and is preparing to meet with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Germany on Friday.
Speaking with reporters at the White House later on Wednesday, Trump announced he hopes to meet with Putin in person in Saudi Arabia sometime soon, though he didn’t provide an exact timeline.
Meeting with Ukraine’s network of international backers in Belgium earlier on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed back on ambitions for Ukraine to regain all the territory it has lost during the war.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth also opposed talk of Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.
By Ryan Morgan
