The US president said the two-hour conversation went “very well”, and that Ukraine and Russia are to start ceasefire talks “immediately”.
But despite the upbeat comments, Moscow has not yet agreed to any of the key objectives set out by Washington, prompting one former European leader to frame the call as “a win for Putin.”
The first reports from the phone call painted a rosy picture, with Trump and Putin on friendly terms and addressing each other by their first names.
The US president said his talk with Putin went “very well” and was “excellent”, adding: “If it wasn’t, I would say so now, rather than later.”
He said that if appropriate agreements were reached, there could be a ceasefire, adding that direct talks between Russia and Ukraine gave “reason to believe that we are generally on the right track.”
Putin said “Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis.”
Russia’s requests, including taking Crimea and Donbas and keeping Ukraine out of Nato, have been repeatedly rejected by Kyiv.
He told reporters in the Oval Office: “I think something’s going to happen and, if it doesn’t I’d just back away and they have to keep going. This was a European situation. It should have remained a European situation.
Putin spoke to Trump from a music school in the southern Russian resort city of Sochi, where he later took questions from students (Photo: Alexander KAZAKOV/POOL/AFP)
Talks could be held at the Vatican
Trump revealed that the new Pope Leo XIV had offered up the Vatican as a potential venue for ceasefire talks.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said leaders had welcomed the pontiff’s offer, and that “Italy is ready to do its part to facilitate contacts and work for peace.”
“The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face-to-face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace,” he said last week.
Trump was also questioned by reporters as to whether holding talks at the Vatican meant the US was stepping away – a suggestion he denied.
Pope Leo, the first US Pope, has previously said the Vatican could act as a mediator in global conflicts. He is pictured here meeting Volodymyr Zelensky at the end of Mass on May 18 (Photo: Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Although Trump said that the two sides will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations, no date for such talks has yet been set. Nor is it clear who might participate.
That discussion – the first between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in three years – helped bring about a limited exchange of prisoners, but did not pause the fighting.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there were “no deadlines” for a memorandum on Ukraine.
European leaders and Ukraine have demanded Russia agree to a ceasefire immediately, and Trump has focused on getting Putin to commit to a 30-day truce. Putin has resisted this, insisting that conditions be met first.
A resident carries a cat at the site of a house heavily damaged by a Russian drone strike on 18 May (Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)European leaders agree to put more pressure on Moscow after Trump call
Zelensky said “this is a defining moment”, and urged the US not to distance itself from talks.
In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the conversation with Trump was “good” and it was “important that the US stays engaged.”
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt said the call with Trump was “undoubtedly a win for Putin.”
One person familiar with Trump’s call with the Ukrainian and European leaders said participants were “shocked” that the US leader did not want to push Putin with sanctions, Reuters reported.
Trump did not appear ready to follow that move.
Asked why he had not imposed fresh sanctions to push Moscow into a peace deal as he has threatened, Trump told reporters: “Well because I think there’s a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you can also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that’s going to happen.”
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