New York: US President Donald Trump spoke to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Wednesday and said that negotiations will begin on Friday to end the Ukraine war.
After his first official phone call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin after he became President, Trump posted on Truth Social, “We both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”
After his call with Zelensky, he said, “A meeting is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation.”
They will be there to participate in the Munich Security Conference where foreign affairs, defence and security officials from many countries will participate.
Trump said Zelensky, “like President Putin, wants to make PEACE. We discussed a variety of topics related to the War.”
Before Trump’s talks with the two leaders, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out going back to the borders in 2014 when Russia began its incursions into Ukraine.
Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying, “Trump called for a quick end to the fighting and a peaceful solution to the problem. ”
“Putin, for his part, mentioned the need to address the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peaceful negotiations.”
Trump had said during his election campaign that he would end the Ukraine War within 24 hours of becoming President, but reality was more complicated and this was the first belated step towards that goal.
On Tuesday, Russia released an American school teacher Marc Fogel, who had been sentenced to a 14-year prison term on charges of possessing marijuana and held since 2021. He said that he was using it for medical reasons.
In exchange, the US released a Russian held in the US.
Setting the terms for a possible end to the Ukraine War, Hegseth said it was “unrealistic” to return to the borders before 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.
Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Brussels, he said Kyiv should not get NATO membership as part of any deal.
He said the US would not send troops for a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine and should not be under the NATO umbrella.
In his Truth Social post, Trump said during the “highly productive phone call” they “discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects”.
The reference to the Dollar was probably about his opposition to a currency like the one from BRICS becoming an alternative to the Dollar for international transactions. (India has ruled out a BRICS currency)
Trump’s post talked of the close cooperation between the US and Russia during World War II and said, “We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together.”
Close ties between Russia and China strengthened by Moscow’s isolation after its invasion of Ukraine have been worrisome to the US and Trump would like to weaken that.
(IANS)
