The Kremlin said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours. The two leaders had agreed that the “time has come to work together” and that Putin has invited Trump to Moscow, it said.
Before taking office on January 20, Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war “within 24 hours”.
‘Make peace’
Trump took the world by surprise as he announced the phone call on his Truth Social platform earlier, saying he and Putin had “both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the conflict.
The US president said they had agreed to “work together very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations” and to “have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” on Ukraine.
Trump later called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included on the call with Putin.
Zelensky said afterwards that he had a “meaningful” call with Trump in which he had “shared details” of his talks with Putin.
Trump said after the conversation that Zelensky “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
Andriy Yermak, head of Kyiv’s presidential office, said in televised comments that Zelensky and Trump had agreed to “immediately” start work on the high-level teams from each side who will try to hash out a deal.
The teams will “begin a process of daily work” and Zelensky and his officials will meet US officials involved at the Munich Security Conference in a day’s time, Yermak said.
But Trump’s call with Putin has raised concerns that the United States was agreeing to Russia’s terms.
