Trump phones Putin, prepares for direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian leaders
Following his meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders in Washington D.C. on Aug. 18, U.S. President Donald Trump phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the day's talks.
Trump announced that he has initiated the process of arranging a direct meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders.
“At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
He added that the future meeting would be followed by a trilateral summit. “After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat — 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 said.
According to Russian foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, the call took place after midnight Moscow time.
During the conversation, Trump reportedly briefed Putin on his negotiations with Zelensky and the European leaders. The two presidents also discussed the possibility of raising the level of representatives from both sides for the negotiations.
Putin reportedly told Trump that he is ready for a meeting with Zelensky, AFP reported citing a person familiar with the call.
On his Truth Social account, Trump praised the progress of the talks, adding that "this was a very good, early step for a War that has been going on for almost four years."
"During the meeting we discussed Security Guarantees for Ukraine, which Guarantees would be provided by the various European Countries, with a coordination with the United States of America."
The Washington meeting, which preceded the phone call, was attended by a group of European leaders who had accompanied Zelensky to show their support for Ukraine’s position.
The group included European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
The presence of these European allies was particularly notable, as they had sought to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine following Trump’s recent "very warm" summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15 in Alaska.
That earlier summit marked a shift in Trump's approach, as he had pivoted away from demanding a ceasefire and toward a comprehensive peace deal involving territorial concessions.
Although no formal peace agreement was made during their three-hour meeting in Anchorage, Trump later said they had made headway and "largely agreed" on security guarantees for Ukraine and territorial swaps.
Reports from various media outlets detailed the terms of the proposals discussed at the Alaska summit. According to a source from the Ukrainian Presidential Office who spoke to the Kyiv Independent, Moscow's proposal would require Kyiv to withdraw from the Ukrainian-controlled parts of the partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in exchange for a Russian pullback from parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts.
