Trump holds phone call with Putin on starting Ukraine negotiations

US President Donald Trump claims he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call’ with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which they discussed starting negotiation talks on the war in Ukraine.

Posting on the social media platform Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful.”

He also claimed that millions of people have died in a war that “would not have happened” if he were President when it began, but added that “it did happen, so it must end.”

Trump says he and Putin also discussed other topics including the Middle East, energy, Artificial Intelligence and “the power of the Dollar”, as well as reflected on the “great history of our nations.”

He also thanked Putin for the release of American school teacher Marc Fogel as part of a prisoner swap with Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal.

The US President has previously revealed that he has already had one or more phone conversations about ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine. He has not revealed how many times he has spoken with Putin, but says they have a “good relationship”.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Trump agreed in the telephone conversation to organise a meeting in person, and that the Russian president told Trump he is ready to receive Americans in the country.

“The Russian President supported one of the main theses of the head of the American state that the time has come for our countries to work together,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.