Following a call with President Putin on Monday, President Trump says negotiations will begin between Russia and Ukraine in order to secure a cease-fire — something the Russians have, up until this point, rejected. Mr. Trump said the talks may be hosted by Pope Leo XIV. 

In a Truth Social post Monday afternoon, Mr. Trump praised Mr. Putin for the “excellent” conversation. 

“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” the president says. “The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.” 

Mr. Trump added that the Vatican has told him that it would be “very interested” in hosting such negotiations between the two countries.

According to a Russian state media outlet, TASS, Mr. Putin described the same call as very useful on Monday. 

“The conversation took place, it lasted more than two hours,” Mr. Putin says, according to a translation provided by the outlet. “It was very meaningful and very frank, and in general, in my opinion, it is very useful in this regard.”

Although Mr. Trump is still expected to speak with Mr. Zelensky Monday afternoon, he did place a call to Ukraine’s leader before the call with Mr. Putin. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Zelensky what he should demand of the Russians during that conversation. Ukraine’s leader reportedly told Mr. Trump to push for a 30-day cease-fire, a sit-down meeting with the Ukrainians, Russians, and Americans all in attendance, and closer ties between the United States and Ukraine. 

The Trump administration has seemingly grown frustrated with the Russians’ inability to come to the table for a deal. Vice President Vance remarked last week that the Russians were “asking for too much,” though he cautioned that negotiations are ongoing. 

“I’m not yet that pessimistic on this. I wouldn’t say the Russians are uninterested in bringing this thing to a resolution,” Mr. Vance told the Munich Leaders Meeting on May 7.

Mr. Putin abruptly pulled out of a planned meeting with Mr. Zelensky in Turkey, which was scheduled for the same time that Mr. Trump was in the neighborhood, visiting the Gulf states on the first foreign trip of his second administration. Even though he first proposed the meeting of the two leaders, Mr. Putin did not show up, leaving the American point man for the conflict — special envoy Steve Witkoff — to meet only with lower-level officials. 

“His sensibilities are that he’s got to get on the phone with President Putin, and that is going to clear up some of the logjam and get us to the place that we need to get to,” Mr. Witkoff said of Mr. Trump on ABC News’s “This Week” on Sunday. 

“I believe that the president is going to have a successful call with Vladimir Putin,” Mr. Witkoff said. “They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here.”