Russia, Ukraine to Immediately Restart Cease-Fire Talks, Trump Says After Call With Putin

Trump announced that he had plans to hold back-to-back calls with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, in a bid to end the war.

(Left) U.S. President Donald Trump in Phoenix on Feb. 19, 2020. (Right) Russian President Vladimir Putin in Jerusalem on Jan. 23, 2020. Jim Watson, Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone, as the U.S. president continues his push to settle the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump said he believed that his call with the Russian leader went well.

“The tone and spirit of the conversation was excellent,” he wrote in a May 19 post on his Truth Social platform.

In his May 19 post, Trump indicated that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders immediately after he wrapped up his call with Putin.

Trump said he informed Zelenskyy and the other European leaders that negotiations would begin immediately.

“Russia is ready and will continue to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a potential future peace treaty,” Putin said in a press statement carried by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency following his call with Trump.

In his own press statement on social media platform X on May 19, Zelenskyy said Ukraine has been and remains ready to negotiate for a cease-fire and an end to the fighting.

“It is not necessary to convince Ukraine, and our representatives are prepared to make real decisions in negotiations,” Zelenskyy wrote. “What’s needed is a mirrored readiness from Russia to engage in meaningful talks.”

In March, Ukraine signaled its support for a U.S.-backed 30-day cease-fire to build momentum toward a more permanent peace settlement. Putin initially expressed an interest in the pause but stopped short of committing to the proposal.

In late April, Putin unilaterally declared a cease-fire from May 8 through May 10, to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Zelenskyy and other European leaders called on Putin to extend that brief cease-fire window, and threatened additional sanctions if he refused. The Russian leader did not agree to those demands.

European leaders, in turn, have discussed new sanctions targeting Russia’s Nord Stream pipelines and its “shadow fleet” of commercial ships suspected of helping to circumvent international trade restrictions and surreptitiously sabotage Western undersea infrastructure.

In April, Trump threatened to pull back from his efforts to mediate a peace deal if he did not see more signs of progress from both sides.

Zelenskyy, in his May 19 press statement, urged Trump to continue mediating the peace process.

“It is crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks and the pursuit of peace, because the only one who benefits from that is Putin,” the Ukrainian leader wrote.

Trump’s May 19 calls with Putin and Zelenskyy came after Russian and Ukrainian representatives met in Istanbul on May 16.

The Istanbul meeting marked the first round of direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in more than three years of fighting.

Zelenskyy had called for a direct meeting with Putin in Istanbul, but the Russian leader declined the offer.

Proceeding with a lower-level discussion, Ukrainian and Russian delegates instead agreed that each side would release 1,000 prisoners of war.