Trump speaks to Putin, says Ukraine talks to start 'immediately'

WASHINGTON

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a "lengthy and highly productive" call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which they agreed to "immediately" start negotiations to end the Ukraine war.

Trump said on Truth Social that both leaders had extended invitations of "visiting each other's nations," while the U.S. leader said he would be calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "right now" to inform him about the call.

In an extraordinary thaw in relations between Washington and Moscow, the Kremlin separately said the call lasted one and a half hours and that Putin and Trump had agreed that the "time has come to work together."

Putin also told Trump that a "long-term settlement" of the Ukraine conflict sparked by Russia's 2022 invasion of its pro-Western neighbor was possible, and invited the U.S. president to Moscow, the Kremlin said.

The Trump-Putin call came after a prisoner swap this week that saw Moscow free U.S. teacher Marc Fogel while Washington released Russian cryptocurrency kingpin Alexander Vinnik.

Trump heaped praise on the Russian president in his Truth Social post, saying that Putin "even used my very strong Campaign motto of, 'COMMON SENSE.'"

He said they "both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine" — with Trump using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the war.

"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's Nations," said Trump.

"We have also 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."

Trump said he had asked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff "to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful."

'Peace negotiations' on Ukraine possible: Putin

In the meantime, the Kremlin announced that Putin had told Trump that “peace negotiations” to end the Ukrainian conflict were possible.

"President Putin ... agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be reached through peace negotiations," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in his readout of the call, which he said lasted almost one-and-a-half hours.

"President Trump spoke in favour of stopping hostilities as soon as possible and solving the problem by peaceful means."

Putin stressed any settlement would need to "address the root causes of the conflict," Peskov said, without elaborating.

The Kremlin leader also invited Trump to visit Moscow.

In addition to Ukraine, the two leaders discussed the exchange of prisoners, Iran's nuclear programme and the situation in the Middle East, he added.

Trump called his conversation with Putin "lengthy and highly productive" in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, saying they had agreed to "immediately" start negotiations.