Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump spoke via telephone on Tuesday and reaffirmed their mutual willingness to keep direct dialogue ongoing between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv.
The conversation was confirmed by Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, who said it came at the request of the United States.
Ushakov said Trump took the opportunity to update Putin on his recent meeting in Washington of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the several meetings he had with European leaders.
Hopefully Putin was able to thank Trump for a warm reception and arrangements implemented at the Alaska Summit. He was able to also go on the record to acknowledge the benchmarks communicated and progress made there, all directed towards achieving a peaceful settlement for the conflict in Ukraine.
The leaders touched upon the potential of including senior officials of both Russia and Ukraine at subsequent direct negotiations.
"It is quite telling that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump agreed to keep in touch with one another on the Ukrainian issue and other urgent international and bilateral matters. The President of Russia highlighted the importance of Donald Trump's personal efforts and commitment to finding solutions for a lasting settlement in Ukraine. The conversation was quite frank and constructive," Ushakov stated.
Additionally, after his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders, on Monday, Trump stated that he is seeking to arrange a meeting between Zelensky and Putin. He said that this initiative is part of a larger effort to end the horrific war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians and thousands of soldiers.
Trump then after met with Putin himself and followed-up with a call discussing how they could convene a meeting involving Trump, Zelensky and Putin to help explore the current peace negotiations.
"I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
"After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat (trilateral meeting), which would be the two Presidents, plus myself. Again, this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years," he added.
Trump said that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are all in communication with their respective Russian counterparts and their Ukrainian counterparts for the meetings that they plan to set up.
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