Trump after calling with Putin says he had excellent conversation with Russian President

United States President Donald Trump has said Monday that Russia and Ukraine will start « immediately » negotiations, adding that he made « excellent » calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which lasted more than two hours.

Trump also spoke with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders, in an effort to take progress towards a ceasefire in the War in Ukraine.

« The conditions for this will be negotiated between the two sides, as it should be, because they know the details of a negotiation that no one else would know, » Trump said in a post on social media.

Meanwhile, Putin said after the call that Russia is ready to continue talks on the end of the war, but he indicated that there was no great progress on the call with Trump, which he described as « very informative and very sincere » conversation.

Putin said the warring countries should « find compromises that would be acceptable to all parties ».

« At the same time, I would like to point out that, in general, Russia’s attitude is clear. For us, the most important thing is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis, » the Russian President said.

Earlier, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said Trump’s goal is to « see the end of the war », and that « he is angry and tired of both sides. »

Steve Witkoff, a White House emissar, who has already met with Putin three times, has predicted that talking to the Russian President will « contribute to where we are now and how we can conclude these negotiations ».

« They know each other. The president is determined to do something here … if he can’t do anything, no one can, » Witkoff said in an interview with ABC News at the weekend.

Trump had announced calls after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Istanbul for direct talks. It was the first meeting of the parties since the early weeks after the launch of the Russian occupation of Ukraine in February 2022.

« The topics of the calls will be the stop of the ‘slaughter,' » Trump wrote on social media. « I hope it will be a productive day, that there will be a ceasefire, and that this very violent war that had never started to have started, will end, » the US president added.

Meetings in Istanbul, which also included separate talks with US officials, provided only modest results, including an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war. There was no commitment to stop fighting, while Russia over the weekend did what Ukraine described one of the largest bombing of drones.

A man looking at the body of a woman killed during a Russian drone attack in the Kiev region on May 18.

Russian negotiators are reported to have made maximum demands on Ukraine, calling on her to withdraw its forces from partly occupied regions from Russia, and have submitted other conditions that were set in the spring of 2022. These conditions have been categorically rejected by Ukraine and many of its Western allies.

Since the start of the second presidential mandate in January, Trump has ended the Russian war in Ukraine a key priority of foreign policy. These efforts have been hampered by the continued offensive operations of Russia on the battlefield, and from Moscow’s unwillingness to agree on a 30-day ceasefire, something Ukraine has signed.

After a period of initial tension with Kievin, the White House anger has focused on Moscow, while the tones of public statements by US officials have toughened.