Washington, DC/Moscow:
Almost three weeks after the disaster meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the White House, President Donald Trump, with the aim of finding a peaceful end to a long-standing war in Ukraine, today dialed his Russian counterpart in a new attempt to end the conflict.
Donald Trump, who called Vladimir Putin at 10am (USA), spoke with Russian leaders for more than two hours. The White House said.
What’s happening now – President Trump is currently in an oval office talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin since 10:00 AMEDT. The phone is on track and is still in progress.
– Dan Scavino (@Scavino47) March 18, 2025
Both leaders negotiated ways to secure a ceasefire in conflict zones in Eastern Europe. In a war that has lasted for over three years, tens of thousands of live shows have been lost to date.
Even before the phone call, President Trump had already made clear that he was ready to debate which parts of the captured Ukraine and Russia would be maintained. Moscow and Washington are already talking about “splitting certain assets,” the US president said over the weekend.
European countries are worried that President Trump, who has not hidden his praise for Putin, may agree to give too many Ukrainian territory to Russia. They are also very concerned that Ukraine has not been consulted about any decisions that could be agreed upon in today’s Fonekal.
Since Zelensky’s elliptical office showdown with President Trump, Ukraine has agreed to temporarily stop the war for 30 days and engage in a dialogue with Russia, but Putin has set a set of conditions that Moscow said was not possible to negotiate. And only if these guarantees can be provided will Moscow and Kiev sit for consultation.
Kiev, who rejected the barrage of conditions set by Moscow, said he hopes Moscow will “unconditionally” accept the ceasefire. “It’s time to show whether Russia really wants peace,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andry Sibiga said.
Doubled Moscow’s conditions against Kiev and other parts of Europe, Vladimir Putin says that the ceasefire that Russia accepts will benefit only Ukraine as it is “steady progress” through Ukrainian territory.
Putin has made it clear in uncertain terms that Moscow will never accept the NATO forces deployed as a Ukrainian peacekeeping force. Russia claims that it was because NATO came to Ukraine in the first place, leading to war. Putin also said he hopes the US will stop arming Ukraine to consider the peace deal.
Two days before his Fonecole with Putin, Donald Trump said he would discuss the issue of “land” and “power plants” with President Putin.
President Trump followed suit Monday in a true social post from the social media platform saying “many elements of the final agreement have been agreed, but have not yet been resolved.”
He added that the talks with Russia are “at a very important stage.”
(Input from AFP)
