Trump calls Putin ahead of Zelensky meeting
US President Donald Trump has said he has talked to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, ahead of his meeting on Sunday with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. The two had a “very productive” conversation, the American president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The Kremlin confirmed the two presidents talked by phone but did not provide any details of the conversation.
Trump is expected to meet Zelensky in Florida. On Friday, the Ukrainian leader told Axios that he anticipates reaching an agreement on a peace framework during the discussions. The plan would reportedly require Russia to agree to a ceasefire prior to any permanent settlement.
Moscow has repeatedly rejected the idea of a temporary ceasefire, which would allow the Ukrainian military to rearm and regroup. Russia has instead insisted on a permanent peace if Kiev recognizes the new territorial realities and commits to neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification.
Earlier this week, Zelensky also revealed his new 20-point peace proposal, which he claimed had been discussed with US officials. Moscow dismissed it as a non-starter. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday that the proposal was “radically different” from the plan discussed by Moscow and Washington and can barely be called a peace plan.
On Saturday, Putin said during a meeting with Russian generals that some “smart people” in the West were offering Kiev “decent” peace terms that included “good framework security guarantees,” an economic recovery scheme, and a roadmap for restoring relations with Russia. However, according to the president, Kiev is still in “no rush” to resolve the conflict peacefully even with such favorable terms being offered.
If the Ukrainian authorities eschew a peaceful resolution, Russia will achieve its goals on the battlefield, Putin warned. Earlier, Ryabkov said that a settlement to the conflict is “really close” and that Moscow is “fully” committed to moving forward with the peace process. Nevertheless, he warned that Kiev and its European backers had “doubled” their efforts to derail a potential agreement.
