Trump discusses Ukraine war with Putin, Zelensky
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The Kremlin said Putin and Trump had spoken for nearly an hour and a half by telephone and that the two men had agreed to meet.
PHOTOS: AFP
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WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/KYIV - Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine on Feb 12 in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the new US president’s first big step towards diplomacy over a war he has promised to end.
In a post on his social media platform after speaking to Mr Putin, Mr Trump said they “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now”.
After a call with the Ukrainian leader, Mr Trump said: “The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
Mr Zelensky’s office said Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky spoke by phone for about an hour, while the Kremlin said Mr Putin’s call with Mr Trump lasted nearly an hour and a half.
“I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We... talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together ...and Ukraine’s technological capabilities... including drones and other advanced industries,” Mr Zelensky wrote on X.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed to meet, and Mr Putin had invited Mr Trump to visit Moscow.
There has been speculation that the two leaders could meet in a third country, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seen as possible venues, according to Russian sources.
Mr Trump has long said he would quickly end the war in Ukraine, without saying how he would accomplish this.
Earlier on Feb 12, Mr Trump’s Defence Secretary, Mr Pete Hegseth, delivered the new administration’s bluntest statement so far on its approach to the war, saying it was unrealistic for Kyiv to hope to recover all of Ukraine’s territory occupied by Russia since 2014, as was securing its membership in Nato.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective,” Mr Hegseth told a meeting at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
“Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”
Mr Hegseth said any durable peace must include “robust security guarantees to ensure that the war will not begin again”. But he said US troops would not be deployed to Ukraine as part of such guarantees.
France, Germany and Spain said Ukraine’s fate must not be decided without Kyiv’s active participation, with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot saying Europe would play its role in offering security guarantees for Ukraine even if Nato membership were not immediate.
Zelensky offers minerals
Mr Zelensky, hoping to keep Mr Trump interested in continuing to support his country, has lately proposed a deal under which the United States would invest in minerals in Ukraine.
Mr Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in Kyiv on Feb 12 on the first visit by a member of Mr Trump’s cabinet, said such a mineral deal could serve as a “security shield” for Ukraine after the war.
In a social media post, Mr Trump said he and Mr Zelensky discussed a meeting about the Ukraine war in Munich on Feb 14, which Vice-President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend.
Along with Mr Putin inviting Mr Trump to Moscow, there were other signs that the two countries may be trying to improve strained relations, which could be a factor in Ukraine negotiations.
The Kremlin said the prisoner swop that got under way on Feb 11 could help build trust between the two countries.
Russia on Feb 11 freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who was serving a 14-year sentence in a Russian prison, in exchange for a Russian cybercrime boss imprisoned in the US, according to a official.
No peace talks have been held since the early months of the war, now approaching its third anniversary. Former US President Joe Biden and most Western leaders held no direct discussions with Mr Putin after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
During the war’s first year, Ukraine succeeded in pushing Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recapturing swathes of Russian-occupied territory.
But Moscow has mostly had the upper hand on the battlefield since a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023, making slow but steady gains in intense fighting that has killed or injured hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides and laid Ukrainian cities to waste.
Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and has demanded Kyiv cede more territory and be rendered permanently neutral under any peace deal. Ukraine demands Russia withdraw from captured territory and wants Nato membership or equivalent security guarantees to prevent Moscow from attacking again.
Kyiv has recently appeared to have accepted that it will not be admitted to Nato soon but has emphasised its need for military support under a peace deal.
“If Ukraine is not in Nato, it means that Ukraine will build Nato on its territory. So we need an army as numerous as the Russians have today,” Mr Zelensky said in an interview with The Economist published on Feb 12.
“And for all this, we need weapons and money. And we will ask the US for this,” Mr Zelensky said, describing that as his “Plan B”. REUTERS
