Trump holds call with Putin, says Ukraine peace negotiations to start 'immediately'

Editor's note: This is a breaking story and will be updated regularly.

U.S. President Donald Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and agreed that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine will start "immediately," he announced on Feb. 12.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said both agreed that "we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine."

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Volodymyr Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now."

Shortly after Trump’s announcement Trump and Zelensky had held a phone call.

"Just spoke with Donald Trump. Long conversation. About the possibilities of achieving peace. About our willingness to work together," Zelensky said.

Trump said he had instructed a team including State Secretary Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz to lead the negotiations.

He did not mention Keith Kellogg, his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.

According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the two leaders spoke for 90 minutes and Putin invited Trump to Moscow.

"The Russian president invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow and expressed his readiness to receive American officials in Russia in those areas of mutual interest, including, of course, the topic of the Ukrainian settlement," Peskov said.

"Putin and Trump also agreed to continue personal contacts, including arranging a face-to-face meeting."

Earlier on Feb. 12, Moscow ruled out any discussion of exchanging territories in potential negotiations with Ukraine.

The statement followed Zelensky's remarks in an interview with The Guardian, where he suggested Ukraine could cede the territory it controls in Russia's Kursk Oblast in exchange for Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine.

"This is impossible. Russia has never discussed and will never discuss the topic of exchanging its territory," Peskov responded.

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The Kyiv IndependentMartin Fornusek