U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he returns to the White House after
attending a board meeting at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., U.S.,
March 17, 2025.
Summary
- Trump and Putin speak by phone.
- According to the White House, talks are going well.
- The US-proposed 30-day truce has been accepted by Ukraine.
- The US anticipates Putin's acceptance of the ceasefire proposal.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President
Vladimir Putin discussed the Ukraine war on Tuesday in a phone call, which
Washington hoped would convince Moscow to accept a 30-day ceasefire and move
towards a permanent peace deal.
The White House said the talks had begun at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), and White
House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino wrote on social media that the call was
"going well."
The Kremlin said the talks had ended, Russia's TASS news agency reported.
Kirill Dmitriev, who Putin named last month as his special envoy on
international economic and investment cooperation, said that under Trump and
Putin's leadership, the world had become a much safer place.
Ukraine has already agreed to the U.S.-proposed ceasefire in Europe's
biggest conflict since World War Two, in which hundreds of thousands of people
have been killed or wounded, millions have been displaced, and towns have been
reduced to rubble.
Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, said last week he
supported in principle Washington's proposal for a truce but that his forces
would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
Trump also hopes to secure progress towards a longer-term peace plan, which
he has hinted could include territorial concessions by Kyiv and control of
Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The Kremlin said before the call that Trump and Putin would discuss settling
the conflict in Ukraine and normalizing relations between Russia and the United
States and that they would speak "for as long as they deem
necessary."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was already a "certain
understanding" between the two leaders, based on a phone call they held on
February 12 and subsequent high-level contacts between the two countries.
"But there are also many questions regarding the further normalization
of our bilateral relations and a settlement on Ukraine," Peskov told
reporters.
