Trump calls Putin to press for a ceasefire in Ukraine while Zelensky proposes new cooperation with Washington

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin will hold a phone call on Monday with the aim of “stopping the bloodshed” in Ukraine, according to the US president, after fruitless talks in Istanbul between Kyiv and Moscow.

During his election campaign, Trump pledged to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, but his diplomatic efforts have so far yielded little progress.

Kyiv and Moscow held their first direct talks in nearly three years in Istanbul on Friday, but they ended without a ceasefire agreement.

Following the negotiations, Trump announced that he would speak by phone with the Russian president in an attempt to end the bloodbath in Ukraine that has devastated large swathes of the country and displaced millions.

Trump also said he would speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and several NATO leaders, expressing his hope that it will be a productive day, that a ceasefire will take place, and that this very violent war that should never have happened will end.

Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to see an end to the war, and recently endorsed calls for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.

Moscow and Washington have stressed the need for a meeting between Putin and Trump to end the war, while the US president has asserted that nothing will happen on this front until he meets his Russian counterpart face-to-face.

During talks in Istanbul, which also included US officials, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners each and exchange ideas for a possible truce, but without any concrete commitment.

Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Defense Minister Rustam Umarov, said the next step would be a meeting between Putin and Zelensky, while the Russian negotiator indicated that Moscow has taken note of this request.

For his part, the Kremlin spokesman stated, “We consider this possible, but only if certain results are achieved in the form of an agreement between the two sides”.

Since then, Ukraine’s Western allies have accused Putin of deliberately ignoring calls for a ceasefire and are pushing for new sanctions on Russia.

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy held a phone call with Trump on Sunday.

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement Sunday evening that the leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine and the catastrophic cost of war on both sides.

He added that they also discussed the need for an unconditional ceasefire and for President Putin to take peace talks seriously, ahead of the expected phone call between Trump and Putin on Monday.

He noted that they also discussed resorting to sanctions if Russia fails to engage seriously in a ceasefire and peace talks.

Zelensky also discussed the possibility of new sanctions on Russia with US Vice President JD Vance when they met after Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural mass at the Vatican on Sunday.

Zelensky wrote on Telegram after the meeting, “We discussed the talks in Istanbul, where the Russians sent a low-level delegation with no decision-making powers… We also touched on the need to impose sanctions on Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, the situation on the ground, and future prisoner exchanges”.

A Ukrainian official in the president’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity, that they also discussed preparations for Monday’s scheduled phone call between Trump and Putin.

This meeting is the first since the verbal altercation between the two men at the White House on February 28, in which Trump participated.

That day, the Ukrainian president found himself the target of a sharp verbal attack from Trump and Vance, who accused him in front of reporters of not showing gratitude to Washington for its support for Kyiv in the face of the Russian invasion.

On the ground, Ukraine said Sunday that Russia launched a record number of drones into the country overnight, targeting several areas, including Kyiv, where a woman was killed.

In an interview with Russian state television broadcast Sunday, Putin said Moscow’s goal is to eliminate the causes that led to this crisis, create the necessary conditions for lasting peace, and ensure Russia’s security, without elaborating.

The Kremlin is sticking to tough demands, including that Ukraine abandon its NATO membership bid, cede four regions partially controlled by Russia, and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and halt Western arms shipments.

Ukraine strongly rejects these demands and demands the withdrawal of the Russian army, which occupies approximately 20% of its territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to his US counterpart new cooperation between Kyiv and Washington in the defense industries and trade.

This came in a letter Zelensky sent to Trump following his meeting with the latter’s Vice President, JD Vance, at the Vatican on Sunday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidential office.

The statement indicated that among the topics discussed by the two sides was an exchange of views on the implementation of the Economic Partnership agreement signed between the United States and Ukraine.

He noted that Zelensky sent a letter to Trump containing new proposals for cooperation in the defense industries and trade.

Earlier on Sunday, Zelensky met with US Vice President at the Vatican on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Pope Leo XIV as head of the Catholic Church and head of the Vatican City State.