Trump Set To Speak With Zelensky, Putin in Renewed Push for Cease-Fire

President Trump is set to speak with Presidents Zelensky and Putin on Monday in an ongoing effort to get a cease-fire between their two countries. Mr. Trump reportedly has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in ending the war. Mr. Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to end the Russia-Ukraine war before even returning to office in January, though a deal has yet to be brokered. He has lashed out at both foreign leaders for what Mr. Trump says is a lack of practicality in trying to bring the conflict to a close. “I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK,” Mr. Trump writes on Truth Social. “I WILL THEN BE SPEAKING TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY OF UKRAINE.”The president also says he plans to speak with several members of the NATO alliance after his calls with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders. “HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END,” the president said.The Trump administration had hoped that the planned meeting of Messrs. Putin and Zelensky’s at Istanbul during the president’s trip to the Middle East would yield some results. Mr. Putin ultimately skipped the meeting, however, even though he proposed the talks in the first place. Mr. Trump later claimed that Mr. Putin did not attend because he would only sit down if the American president himself was there. Mr. Zelensky visited Rome on Sunday for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV, where he met with the pontiff and several other leaders following the conclusion of the papal ceremonies, among them Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio. “Good meeting with @VP J. D. Vance and Secretary of State @SecRubio in Rome,” Mr. Zelensky writes on X, sharing a photo of himself and Mr. Vance smiling — a far cry from their contentious Oval Office meeting in February. “During our talks we discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low level delegation of non-decision-makers. I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible,” Ukraine’s president writes. Mr. Trump’s apparent point man on attempting to end the war, special envoy Steve Witkoff, said Sunday that the president hopes to clear some of the “logjam” holding back a cease-fire and a broader peace agreement by speaking with both presidents on Monday morning. “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 his boss on ABC News’s “This Week.” “I believe that the president is going to have a successful call with Vladimir Putin,” Mr. Witkoff added, without offering specifics about what exactly the president plans to say to Mr. Putin. “They know each other. The president is determined to get something done here.”

Trump Set To Speak With Zelensky, Putin in Renewed Push for Cease-Fire

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