On Saturday, President Trump announced through his social media platform, Truth Social, that he will have phone calls with Russian President Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky on Monday. The discussions will focus on peace in Russia and Ukraine as well as trade.
“I will be speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10 a.m. on Monday. The main themes of this call will be to stop the bloody carnage that causes over five thousand Russian and Ukrainian soldiers to die on average each week, as well as trade,” Trump stated. “Then I will talk to Ukrainian President Zelensky, followed by discussions with President Zelensky and several NATO member countries.”
“I hope this will be a productive day, able to achieve a ceasefire. I hope this incredibly violent and unnecessary war will come to an end. God bless us all!!” the President said.
So far, Russia has not shown willingness to compromise in the conflict in Ukraine.
On Friday, for the first time in three years, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held direct peace talks in Istanbul, Turkey. The talks lasted for less than two hours and did not reach a consensus on a ceasefire. The only substantial progress made was agreeing to exchange 1,000 prisoners each, marking the largest swap since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.
A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that the Russian negotiating team at the peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine to withdraw its troops from all Ukrainian territories claimed by Moscow as sovereign, or they would not agree to a ceasefire.