President Trump mentioned on Wednesday that he had a “prolonged and extremely productive cellphone name” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, characterizing it as the start of a negotiation to finish the struggle in Ukraine.
It was the primary confirmed dialog between the 2 males throughout Mr. Trump’s second time period, coming as Mr. Trump has made clear to advisers that discovering a U.S.-backed finish to struggle that Russia started is a precedence for his administration.
“We mentioned Ukraine, the Center East, Power, Synthetic Intelligence, the facility of the Greenback, and varied different topics,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media submit.
“We every talked in regards to the strengths of our respective Nations, and the good profit that we’ll sometime have in working collectively,” Mr. Trump added. “However first, as we each agreed, we need to cease the thousands and thousands of deaths happening within the Battle with Russia/Ukraine.” (An estimated a number of hundred thousand deaths have occurred within the battle, not thousands and thousands.)
The U.S. president mentioned he deliberate to tell President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine that each international locations deliberate to “have our respective groups begin negotiations instantly.” Mr. Zelensky’s workplace later mentioned that the Ukrainian president spoke with Mr. Trump for an hour.
Nevertheless, Mr. Trump didn’t say in his social media submit how Mr. Zelensky would issue into the negotiations that he and Mr. Putin have been setting in movement. Mr. Trump has lengthy been skeptical of Ukraine and has by no means warmed to Mr. Zelensky.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, advised reporters that Mr. Putin’s name with Mr. Trump lasted nearly an hour and a half.
He mentioned that the 2 males agreed to carry a private assembly and that Mr. Putin invited Mr. Trump to go to Moscow, one thing that Mr. Trump additionally alluded to in his social media submit. Mr. Putin agreed with Mr. Trump that “the time has come for our international locations to work collectively,” Mr. Peskov mentioned.
On Ukraine, Mr. Putin advised Mr. Trump of “the necessity to get rid of the foundation causes of the battle,” Mr. Peskov mentioned. That was an indication that Mr. Putin wouldn’t settle for a easy cease-fire in Ukraine and would search broader concessions from Ukraine and the West earlier than he stops preventing.
The Ukrainians seem like dealing with an effort through which they’ve little leverage. The decision between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump got here on the identical day that the U.S. secretary of protection, Pete Hegseth, talking on the NATO headquarters in Brussels, said that it was an “unrealistic” goal for Ukraine to revive its borders as they have been earlier than 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea. Mr. Hegseth added that the U.S. doesn’t assist Ukraine’s need to hitch NATO as a part of a sensible peace plan.
He additionally advised that Europe wanted to imagine a higher position in its personal protection, echoing a degree that Mr. Trump has made for a few years.
For Mr. Putin, the decision was a significant milestone, marking the collapse of Western efforts to isolate him diplomatically after he invaded Ukraine practically three years in the past. Ever since Mr. Trump’s re-election in November, the Russian president has heaped praise on Mr. Trump, underlining the Kremlin’s hope that the brand new American chief might reshape Moscow’s relationship with Washington and again away from supporting Ukraine.
In response to information of the dialog between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin, the United Nations mentioned Wednesday that it welcomed any efforts resulting in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
“We might admire any efforts to resolve the struggle in Ukraine that will contain the Russian and Ukrainian sides, so clearly if each of them are keen to be concerned within the course of, that will be a welcome growth,” mentioned U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq.
Mr. Trump wrote in his social media submit that the U.S. negotiating crew would come with Secretary of State Marco Rubio; John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director; his nationwide safety adviser, Michael Waltz, and his Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff. Mr. Witkoff was in Moscow this week and retrieved the American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who was imprisoned for greater than three years in Russia.
Mr. Trump didn’t point out Keith Kellogg, the retired common named by Mr. Trump as his envoy for Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Kellogg has typically taken a extra aggressive posture towards Russia than a few of Mr. Trump’s casual advisers, and he not too long ago advised that Mr. Trump might improve sanctions towards Russia to drive them towards a peace deal.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether or not he’s spoken to Mr. Putin earlier than Wednesday, though people who would know of such a name within the U.S. authorities weren’t conscious of 1, in accordance with folks briefed on the president’s conversations.
Mr. Trump has typically made admiring remarks in regards to the Russian president, whom he called a “genius” after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. However within the first week of Mr. Trump’s second time period, he was extra important, saying the Russian president shouldn’t have invaded Ukraine.
“He can’t be thrilled, he’s not doing so properly,” Mr. Trump told reporters within the Oval Workplace hours after he was inaugurated. “Russia is greater, they’ve extra troopers to lose, however that’s no method to run a rustic.”
Farnaz Fassihi and Julian E. Barnes contributed reporting.
