President Donald Trump stated Washington and Moscow will start negotiations “instantly” on ending the conflict in Ukraine after talking along with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Wednesday’s name indicated a dramatic turnaround within the US-Russia relationship amid indicators Washington would dial again its assist for Ukraine after nearly three years of conflict.
Trump wrote on his Reality Social platform that he and Putin had “agreed to work collectively, very intently”, expressing confidence that talks can be “profitable” and vowing “no extra lives needs to be misplaced!” He stated the 2 leaders had additionally agreed to go to one another’s nations.
The president instructed reporters within the Oval Workplace on Wednesday that he and Putin would meet in Saudi Arabia. The talks might be hosted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The decision between Trump and Putin, which the Kremlin stated lasted practically 90 minutes, was the primary time Washington and Moscow had spoken on the highest stage since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
International oil costs fell, with Brent crude down 2.3 per cent at $75.25 a barrel. The US is amongst western nations which have imposed sanctions on Russia’s vitality sector for the reason that invasion.
Trump spoke to Putin earlier than calling Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, in an indication that the US might not need to work with Kyiv or the EU on a standard technique to deliver Russia to the negotiating desk.
The US additionally poured chilly water on Ukraine’s hopes of securing a pledge to affix Nato and restoring its borders to the interval earlier than Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
An in-person assembly would mark the primary US-Russia summit since Joe Biden, Trump’s predecessor, met Putin in Geneva in 2021.
Trump stated he would cope with Putin largely over the cellphone however they might additionally meet thrice in particular person.
“We count on that he’ll come right here, and I’ll go there” however “the primary time we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we get one thing finished”, including that “we all know the crown prince and I believe it’d be an excellent place to be”.
“I’m simply right here to attempt to get peace,” Trump stated. “I don’t care a lot about something aside from I need to cease having hundreds of thousands of individuals killed.”
Russia has staked out a hardline place forward of any talks, demanding Nato roll again most of its post-cold conflict deployments in japanese Europe and insisting Ukraine recognise its annexation of 4 south-eastern areas, none of which it absolutely controls.
The Kremlin’s readout of the decision was extra restrained than Trump’s and didn’t counsel Russia was ready to melt its stance.
Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, stated the Russian president agreed with Trump that “the time has come for our nations to work collectively” and {that a} “long-term resolution will be achieved via peace negotiations”, however warned it was “important to settle the explanations for the battle”.
He stated Putin had invited Trump to Moscow and was ready to fulfill US officers to debate “problems with mutual curiosity”. The 2 leaders additionally mentioned bilateral financial co-operation and the Iranian nuclear programme, Peskov instructed reporters.
Trump stated he had directed secretary of state Marco Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and particular envoy Steve Witkoff to go the US negotiating group. Trump’s checklist didn’t embrace his Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg.
Zelenskyy stated after his name with Trump that the 2 had a “lengthy dialog in regards to the prospects of attaining peace”.
The Ukrainian chief stated Trump had knowledgeable him “of the small print of his dialog with Putin”. He stated additionally they mentioned “technological capabilities, together with drones and different fashionable manufacturing”.
A senior Ukrainian official stated Zelenskyy additionally instructed Trump about the scenario on the battlefield and the deployment of North Korean troops to struggle alongside Russian forces in Russia’s Kursk area, the place Ukraine’s army launched an incursion final 12 months.
Trump later wrote on Reality Social that the decision with Zelenskyy “went very properly”.
However the announcement from Trump confirmed fears in Kyiv and Europe that the US wouldn’t contain the EU or European capitals within the negotiations over Ukraine’s future and has shifted to a extra conciliatory place in the direction of Moscow.
In an announcement, six European nations, together with Germany, France and the UK, stated they have been able to “strengthen their assist” for Ukraine, including they have been dedicated to its “independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within the face of Russia’s conflict of agression”.
They added: “We need to focus on the best way ahead with our American allies . . . Ukraine and Europe should be concerned in any negotiations.”
Earlier on Wednesday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth stated a sturdy peace for Ukraine “should embrace sturdy safety ensures” to make sure conflict wouldn’t get away once more. He added that Washington did “not consider that Nato membership for Ukraine is a practical final result”.
Hegseth instructed his Nato allies in Brussels that Washington believed “succesful European and non-European troops” needs to be deployed in post-conflict Ukraine to make sure peace, however not US ones, and that any Nato troopers there wouldn’t be coated by the alliance’s mutual defence clause.
Cartography by Steven Bernard
