Donald Trump has claimed that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin negotiations on preparations for peace talks, but signalled that he was leaving Moscow and Kyiv to find a deal without the US as a broker.
After phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump posted that “Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War”.
Putin’s readout of the call was more tentative and he offered no substantive change in the Kremlin’s stance, while Zelenskyy implored the US leader to “not distance” himself from efforts to secure peace.