Feb. 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two men agreed to end the three-year-old war between Russia and Ukraine.
“We want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said Wednesday in a news release shared with UPI.
“We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation,” Trump said.
The Kremlin confirmed the conversation.
A statement from Russia foreign ministry states the two leaders “discussed a possible Ukraine settlement,” with Putin telling Trump that “it was necessary to eliminate the root causes of the conflict.”
Putin claimed the reason for his Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine was to denazify and demilitarize the country. He has also lashed out at Ukraine’s voluntary effort to join NATO.
The Russian statement added that Putin expressed support for one of Trump’s “key arguments” — that it was time for the United States and Russia to “work together.
It also states Putin invited Trump to Moscow to discuss topics of mutual interest, “including a possible Ukraine settlement.” And Trump said they invited each other to their capitals, and he told reporters they may meet in Saudi Arabia.
Putin has never been to Washington as a world leader though he’s visited other American cities, including New York, with the latest time 2015 at a United Nations General Assembly.
Trump hasn’t been to Russia as president but he has been to Moscow with the last time in 2013 for his Miss Universe Pageant.
Trump on Wednesday also spoke with Zelensky, according to a statement for the Ukrainian leader’s office, which briefly states they discussed “the possibilities of achieving peace” and that Zelensky thanked Trump “for his interest in what the can accomplish together.”
In his nightly address to the Ukrainian people, Zelensky he described the conversation with Trump as “very substantive negotiations” and “a good and detailed conversation.”
“We discussed many aspects — diplomatic, military, economic. And President Trump informed me of what Putin had told him,” he said.
“We believe that America’s strength is sufficient to pressure Russia and Putin into peace, together with us, together with all our partners.”
Trump has asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff to lead the negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Witkoff met with Putin in private on Tuesday after securing the release of American teacher Marc Fogel, who had served three-and-a-half years of a 14-year prison sentence after being found with a half-ounce of medical marijuana in his luggage when arriving in Russia in 2021.
“Millions of people have died in a war that would not have happened if I were president,” Trump said, “but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost.”
The 90-minute phone conversation between Trump and Putin is the first between the two world leaders since Trump was sworn in as president on Jan. 20. Former President Joe Biden and Putin hadn’t talked during the prior three years.
Trump said he wants to bring a swift end to the war and spoke with Zelensky via telephone shortly after his conversation with Putin.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia must include assurances of Ukraine’s security but won’t include admitting Ukraine as a member of NATO.
Instead of giving Ukraine NATO membership, which would pose a threat to Russia, Hegseth said European and non-European nations should provide troops to maintain peace once it is achieved.
Hegseth said it would be “unrealistic” to expect Ukraine to resume its former 2014 borders after Russia captured significant areas of eastern and southern Ukraine after invading in February 2022.
Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s former territory, but Ukraine last year launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk area of western Russia and still has troops in that area.
