Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelenskyy, on Monday to push for Ukraine ceasefire
KYIV Ukraine AP U S President Donald Trump announced he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of various NATO countries about ending the war in Ukraine Trump explained the call with Putin will be about stopping the bloodbath in Ukraine 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 Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his social networking site Truth Social Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov certified in comments to Russian media that preparations were underway for Monday s call Trump s remarks came a day after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years failed to yield a ceasefire Putin had spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy s offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations although not at the presidential level as an alternative to a -day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies including the U S Also on Saturday U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov During a visit to Rome Rubio suggested that the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks In Ukraine a northeastern town declared a period of mourning after a Russian drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from front-line areas killing nine people Ukrainian agents disclosed The strike came hours after the Russian and Ukrainian delegations left Istanbul after agreeing to what would be the biggest prisoner swap to date between the warring parties Zelenskyy faces a gamble as talks stall The talks in Istanbul on Friday broke up after less than two hours without a ceasefire although both sides agreed on exchanging prisoners of war each according to the heads of both delegations Ukraine s intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov revealed on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchange could happen as early as next week But the Kremlin has pushed back against a proposal by Ukraine and its Western allies for a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement and the parties remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting Since U S -brokered talks began in March Ukraine s strategy has been to convince the Trump administration that Putin is unreliable and that Kyiv is serious about peace Trump has expressed frustration with the stalled talks and threatened to abandon his efforts if results aren t achieved He has also commented that no peace would be reached until he held a face to face meeting with Putin On Friday Trump recounted reporters after boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Abu Dhabi that he may call Putin soon He and I will meet and I think we ll solve it or maybe not Trump announced At least we ll know The political theatrics are underscored by stark realities on the ground in Ukraine In a war of attrition against Russia s full-scale invasion Ukraine s position is poised to grow weaker as time goes on unless powerful sanctions are imposed against Moscow and the U S continues arms deliveries Zelenskyy mentioned that he had discussed the outcome of the talks with Trump and the leaders of France Germany Britain and Poland In an X post from a European leadership meeting in Albania on Friday Zelenskyy urged tough sanctions against Moscow if it rejects a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings Peskov on Saturday held open the possibility of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy providing the agreed prisoner swap goes ahead and if the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reached unspecified further agreements Peskov also notified reporters that Moscow will present Ukraine with a list of conditions for a ceasefire but gave no timeframe or say what needed to happen before Zelenskyy and Putin can meet A town in mourning In Ukraine nine civilians were killed and seven others were wounded when a Russian drone struck a bus evacuating people from Bilopillia a town around kilometers miles from Russia s perimeter according to local Gov Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine s national police The Associated Press couldn t independently verify the reports There was no immediate comment from Moscow Zelenskyy described the attack as deliberate killing of civilians adding in a post on the Telegram messaging app that Russians could scarcely not realize what kind of bicycle they were hitting The local media outlet Suspilne stated that the passengers on the bus were being evacuated from the town when the strike happened Agents are working to identify specific of the casualties preponderance of them older women Local region chief Yurii Zarko called the day Black Saturday and mourning was declared in the town through Monday Zelenskyy lamented the missed opportunity from Friday s peace talks saying that Ukraine has long proposed this a full and unconditional ceasefire in order to save lives Ukraine s European allies strongly condemned the attack U K Foreign Secretary David Lammy mentioned that he was appalled by it If Putin is serious about peace Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire as Ukraine has done he wrote on X German Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaking at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned Russia for continuing their attacks nowadays with undiminished ferocity He vowed to continue to increase the pressure on Moscow with added sanctions
