President Donald Trump said talks to end the Ukraine war would begin “immediately” after a “long and very productive” phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday morning.
It was the first known conversation between the presidents since Trump took office last month, with Trump making it clear to his advisers that he wants a quick end to the Ukraine conflict.
Trump administration officials said they hoped Tuesday’s prisoner “exchange” could signal a renewed effort to end the war, which is about to enter its fourth year.
As the two leaders resume communication after a long silence between the White House and the Kremlin, the outlines of Trump’s plan for a settlement are becoming clearer.
“We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, energy, artificial intelligence, the strength of the dollar and various other issues,” Trump said in a readout of the conversation posted on Truth Social.
“We agreed to work very closely together, including visiting each other’s countries.” “We agreed that our respective teams would begin discussions immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelensky of Ukraine to brief him on the conversation, which I will do right away,” Trump wrote.
Both Washington and Moscow, in their descriptions of the call, indicated that they struck a conciliatory tone.
“President Putin even used my very strong campaign slogan, ‘Common Sense.’ We both believe in it very strongly,” Trump wrote, indicating that the former KGB agent on the other end of the line had chosen his words carefully to appeal to the U.S. leader.
The Kremlin said Trump and Putin spoke for about 90 minutes.
Trump had been expressing a desire to speak with Putin for weeks as he worked to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
As American officials traveled to Europe this week, they began to take a clear stance on how the Ukraine war might end. Speaking at a conference in Brussels, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Kiev’s NATO membership was unrealistic and that the United States would no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security as the Trump administration focused on securing the U.S. border and preventing war with China.
Meanwhile, Trump has said he will reach an agreement with Ukraine’s Zelensky to pay for continued U.S. aid.
Trump spoke with Zelensky at noon, shortly after speaking by phone with Putin.
His predecessor, President Joe Biden, had not spoken to his Russian counterpart for nearly three years, believing that there would be little point in talking to a leader he considered a war criminal.
The last U.S. president to visit Russia was Barack Obama in 2013, when he attended the G-20 summit. Putin last visited the United States in 2015 to attend United Nations talks.
Later Wednesday, Trump indicated that he might meet with Putin in Saudi Arabia soon but cautioned that no formal decision had been made on the matter.
“We think we’re probably going to meet in Saudi Arabia, the first meeting,” Trump said, hours after the two spoke by phone.
The president indicated that Saudi Arabia’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would play a role in the talks, saying, “We know the Crown Prince, and I think that would be a very good place to be.”
Trump said, “The date for that meeting hasn’t been set yet,” but he said it could be “in the very distant future.”
Trump also said he had not yet committed to going to Ukraine.
Asked if Zelensky would be present when he met with Putin, Trump indicated that he would not attend the first meeting: “We’ll probably have the first meeting and then we’ll see what we can do about the second meeting.”
“I’ll think about going, I’ll think about it, no problem,” he said.
Steve Witkoff, who will be one of Trump's top negotiators on the conflict, pointed to the release of wrongly detained American Mark Fogel earlier Wednesday as "indicating what the possibilities are" for the future of Russia's war in Ukraine.