Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. The conversation on Monday focused on the Ukraine conflict and a possible ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev.
The phone call was initially announced by Trump on Saturday. The US president said the discussion will focus on “stopping the ‘bloodbath’” between Russia and Ukraine, as well as on bilateral trade issues.
Moscow has described the upcoming conversation between the two presidents as “important,” with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stating the call will be based on the results of the recent Turkish-mediated meeting between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. Russia welcomes the US mediation role and sees the diplomatic path to resolving the Ukraine conflict as preferable, Peskov stressed on Monday.
“We highly value the United States’ mediating efforts – if they truly help us achieve our objectives by peaceful means,” he said.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy and a key figure behind kickstarting the Ukraine peace process, has expressed hope that the call will be “very successful” and can help clear “some of the logjam” in the negotiations.
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20 May 2025
President Donald Trump has expressed hope that “something is going to happen” following his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he said it remains unclear whether Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky is fully committed to ending the conflict with Moscow.
Trump, who has repeatedly said he found it easier to deal with Moscow than Kiev while seeking to broker peace between the two countries, reiterated similar sentiment on Monday when asked if he believes Ukraine is “doing enough” to end the hostilities.
“I’d rather tell you in about two weeks from now, because I can’t say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’… Look, Zelensky is a strong guy, and he’s not the easiest person to deal with. But I think that he wants to stop… I hope the answer is that he wants to get it solved,” Trump told reporters at the White House
19 May 2025
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that during their phone call, the US and Russian presidents discussed the restoration of direct contacts between Moscow and Kiev, laying the groundwork for further negotiations and the development of an initial memorandum aimed at resolving the conflict.
The draft memorandum will be jointly formulated by Russia and Ukraine, Peskov noted, emphasizing that “the devil is in the details” and that no concrete deadlines have been set. He described the drafting process as a “complex task” that will require time and careful coordination between the two sides.
The United States, he added, remains actively involved in the mediation efforts. All parties, including Moscow, are interested in a swift resolution to the crisis, Peskov said, stressing that Russia’s primary goal is to eliminate the root causes of the conflict.
Washington should never have intervened in the Ukraine conflict, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House, blaming the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden for fueling the crisis and spending “hundreds of billions” of US taxpayer dollars to arm Kiev.
“This is not our war. This is not my war… I mean, we got ourselves entangled in something that we shouldn’t have been involved in. And we would have been a lot better off — and maybe the whole thing would have been better off — because it can’t be much worse. It’s a real mess,” Trump said.
“Again, this was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation. But we got involved — much more than Europe did — because the past administration felt very strongly that we should... We gave massive amounts, I think record setting amounts… both weaponry and money,” he added.
Russia and the US “can and will be great partners on economic and investment cooperation,” Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy and one of the key figures in the ongoing contacts between the two nations, Kirill Dmitriev, wrote on X in the aftermath of the talks.
Kiev is seeking to “stop the war” but will not bow to any Russian “ultimatums,” Vladimir Zelensky has said. The country will not withdraw its troops from the four-formerly Ukrainian regions, as demanded by Moscow, he stressed, signaling that Ukraine’s NATO aspirations - another key issue repeatedly outlined by Russia - were not negotiable either.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has confirmed he spoke twice in the day with Donald Trump - ahead and after the US president’s conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
His phone call with Russia’s president shows that certain “progress has been made,” US President Donald Trump said.
“Hopefully we did something,” Trump stated, speaking from the White House’s Rose Garden. “We spoke to the heads of most of the European nations, and we’re trying to get that whole thing wrapped up,” he added.
Following the Trump-Putin phone call, EU countries agreed to coordinate their efforts and continue to support Ukraine, German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said. These measures include putting more “pressure” on Russia “by means of sanctions,” he added.
Trump and Putin discussed “the future of the US-Russia relations,” Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said.
“I can say that President Trump spoke quite emotionally about the prospects for these relations. He repeatedly emphasized that he is in favor of mutually beneficial relations with Russia, given its role in the world and the place it occupies in the [global] economy,” he stated.
During the conversation, Putin and Trump discussed a potential prisoner swap between Russia and the US involving nine individuals from each side, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has revealed.
Russia “wants to do large-scale TRADE” with the US, Donald Trump has claimed, adding that the potential settlement of the conflict would help Ukraine to become “a great beneficiary” of trade as well.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED,” Trump wrote.
The conversation with Vladimir Putin “went very well” and its “tone and spirit” were “excellent,” Donald Trump has said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War. The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” the US president stated.
The recent resumption of direct talks with Kiev shows that the situation is generally steering “in the right direction,” Putin has said. “The issue is, of course, that both Moscow and Kiev should demonstrate maximum desire for peace and find compromises that would satisfy all parties,” he added.
“In general, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis,” Putin stated.
Moscow is ready to work with Kiev on a memorandum that envisions a future peace agreement between the two countries, Putin has said.
“We’ve agreed with the US president that Russia will propose and be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a potential future peace agreement, defining such positions as the principles of the settlement and the timeframe for a potential conclusion of the peace agreement, including [the announcement of] a possible ceasefire for a certain period of time,” the president stated.
“I thanked the president of the United States for US support in resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin stated.
Vladimir Putin has described the conversation with his US counterpart as “frank” and “quite useful.” The phone call went on for over two hours, the Russian president said.
The conversation between Trump and Putin has concluded, and the Russian president is speaking to the press.
Putin and Trump have already been talking for about two hours.
US President Donald Trump is expected to speak by telephone with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky shortly after finishing his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, multiple media reports suggest. Trump and Zelensky had also reportedly spoken briefly ahead of the call with Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has also confirmed that the Putin-Trump phone call is still underway, in comments to Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin.
The phone conversation between the two presidents is still going on, the New York Times has reported, citing White House officials.
During the call, Trump could potentially offer Putin unspecified “economic benefits” and the restoration of ties between Russia and the “rest of the world,” US Vice President J.D. Vance has said.
“The proposal from the United States has always been: Look, there are a lot of economic benefits to thawing relations between Russia and the rest of the world, but you’re not going to get those benefits if you keep on killing a lot of innocent people,” Vance stated.
The conversation between Trump and Putin has begun, US media have reported, citing White House sources.
Trump has grown “weary and frustrated” with both Moscow and Kiev and is seeking to bring the hostilities to an end as soon as possible, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said.
“He has made it clear to both sides that he wants to see a peaceful resolution and ceasefire as soon as possible,” Leavitt told reporters during a press briefing shortly ahead of the scheduled call between Trump and Putin.
Moscow is prepared for “painstaking” and potentially “lengthy” efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. He was commenting on remarks by US President Donald Trump, who appeared to express frustration with the ongoing low-level negotiations.
“There is quite painstaking and, perhaps, in some areas, lengthy work ahead on the settlement, connected with a large number of nuances that need to be discussed. The Russian side is ready for this work,” Peskov has stated.
If Russia is not “willing to engage” to end the Ukraine conflict, “eventually, the US has to say this is not our war,” US Vice President J.D. Vance has warned. He claimed that the Russian leadership “does not seem to know” how to get out of the hostilities.
“We realize there’s a bit of an impasse here,” Vance told reporters on Monday.
Donald Trump is reportedly considering a new sanctions bill targeting Russia if no progress is made on ceasefire talks with Ukraine, Bloomberg reported ahead of the phone call with Putin, citing unnamed European officials.
Trump could deliver the warning to the Russian president during their conversation, US officials privately told their European counterparts, according to the outlet.