US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in an effort to halt the ongoing war in Ukraine. The announcement comes days after the first direct talks in three years between Russian and Ukrainian delegations were held in Istanbul.
Trump, who had offered to travel to Turkey to join the talks if Putin agreed to attend, said the Russian leader declined the offer. Nevertheless, Trump has continued to press both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a ceasefire in the nearly three-year-long conflict.
In a Truth Social post, Trump confirmed that the call with Putin is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. “The subjects of the call will be stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week and trade,” he wrote.
Trump also said he plans to speak with Zelenskyy and NATO leaders following the Putin call. “Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place and this very violent war… will end,” he added. Russia has so far shown limited willingness to make concessions in the conflict.
Russian negotiators at the Istanbul peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.