Trump to call Putin in push for Ukraine ceasefire

Donald Trump will speak by phone Monday with Russia’s Vladimir Putin as part of the US leader’s effort to end the grinding war set off by Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Trump had vowed during his US election campaign to halt the conflict within a day of taking office, but his diplomatic efforts have so far yielded little progress.

Despite Ukraine saying Russia launched a “record” drone attack at the weekend, Moscow said Monday it would prefer to end the conflict through diplomacy and described the upcoming call as “important”.

“It is preferable to achieve our goals through political and diplomatic means, of course,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media, adding that Russia “highly valued” Washington’s attempts to end the fighting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refreshed his push for a “full and unconditional ceasefire” ahead of the call.

Delegations from Russia and Ukraine held direct negotiations in Istanbul last week for the first time in three years, but the talks ended without a commitment to a ceasefire.

ALSO READ: Russia-Ukraine talks resume in Istanbul, but expectations remain low

Both sides traded insults, with Ukraine accusing Moscow of sending a “dummy” delegation of low-ranking officials.

After the negotiations, Trump announced that he would speak by phone with the Russian president in a bid to end the “BLOODBATH” in Ukraine, which has destroyed large swathes of the country and displaced millions of people.

Trump also said he would speak to Zelensky and NATO officials, expressing hope that a “ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war… will end”.

Trump has directed much of his frustration towards Ukraine while abstaining from extensively criticising Putin.

The US president has also argued that “nothing’s going to happen” on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.

Push for sanctions

At the talks in Istanbul, which were also attended by US officials, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each and trade ideas on a possible truce, but with no concrete commitment.

ALSO READ: UK urges Putin to ‘get serious about peace’

Zelensky said Monday that Russia has issued threats during the talks, without elaborating.

“Ukraine insists on the need for a full and unconditional ceasefire in order to save human lives and to establish the necessary foundation for diplomacy,” he said in a post on social media.

Ukraine’s Western allies have since accused Putin of deliberately ignoring calls for a truce and pushed for fresh sanctions against Russia.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy also held a phone call with Trump on Sunday.

“The leaders discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and for President Putin to take peace talks seriously,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“They also discussed the use of sanctions if Russia failed to engage seriously in a ceasefire and peace talks,” the spokesman said.

ALSO READ: Ukraine pushes for peace as next step ‘up to Putin’ on ceasefire deal

“Putin must agree to a ceasefire and peace talks,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also took part in the call, wrote on X, adding that the European leaders aimed to talk to the US president once again on Monday.

Zelensky also discussed possible sanctions with US Vice President JD Vance when they met after Pope Leo’s inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday.

A senior Ukrainian official from the president’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that they had also discussed preparations for Monday’s telephone conversation between Trump and Putin.

‘Root causes’

On the ground, the Russian army continued its attacks.

Moscow claimed its forces had captured two villages in Ukraine’s eastern Sumy and Donetsk regions.

Russia also fired 112 drones on Ukraine overnight, 76 of which were repelled, the Ukrainian air force said.

ALSO READ: Zelensky calls for aerial truce as Russia strikes Ukrainian energy sites

In an interview with Russian state TV broadcast on Sunday, Putin said that Moscow’s aim was to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis, create the conditions for a lasting peace and guarantee Russia’s security”, without elaborating.

Russia’s references to the “root causes” of the conflict typically refer to grievances with Kyiv and the West that Moscow has put forward as justification for launching the invasion in February 2022.

They include pledges to “de-Nazify” and demilitarise Ukraine, protect Russian speakers in the country’s east, push back against NATO expansion and stop Ukraine’s westward geopolitical drift.

Kyiv and the West deny Moscow’s claims and say that Russia’s invasion is an imperial-style land grab.

– By: © Agence France-Presse