Washington/Moscow (TDI): The US President, Donald Trump, has announced that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately start negotiations,” to reach a ceasefire to end the three-year-long war in Ukraine. The announcement was made after he spoke to the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Monday.
President Trump, on his social media Truth account said, “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately.”
He further stated that after his call with the Russian President, he also spoke with the European leaders, and the Vatican Pope, who said that the Vatican “would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!”
The conversation between the two Presidents lasted for two hours, and after the call the Russian President said that the efforts to end the war in Ukraine were “generally on the right track” and that Russia was ready to work with Ukraine on a possible peace agreement.
Talking to the reporters, President Putin commented, “We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord.”
The approval of the Russian President to end the fighting marks a big shift and revives hope of peace among the Ukrainians.
President Zelenskyy did not immediately respond to the news, however, Reuters reported that a source familiar with the matter said that Zelenskyy had spoken with the US President “for a few minutes,” before his call with the Russian President.
Read More: Zelenskyy Insists on Face-to-Face Talks With Putin
Last week, Istanbul hosted a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations after Putin had expressed his willingness to participate in direct talks with the Ukrainian President “without any preconditions.”
However, he did not participate in the meeting himself and instead sent a second-tier delegation for negotiations, despite President Zelenskyy urging him to have a face-to-face meeting.
The talks between the two countries in Istanbul failed as both sides couldn’t reach a peace agreement. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, commented on the deadlock stating that a breakthrough was possible only after direct talks between the US and Russian Presidents.
Before the call on Monday, the US Vice President, JD Vance repeated the warning that the US would walk away from the peace process if President Putin were not serious about this.
Read More: Breakthrough Possible Only After Direct Talks Between Trump and Putin: Rubio
He said, “And I think the president’s going to say to President Putin: ‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?’… I think honestly that President Putin, he doesn’t quite know how to get out of the war.”
Vance further commented that it takes two to tango. “I know the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say, ‘This is not our war.’… We’re going to try to end it, but if we can’t end it, we’re eventually going to say: ‘You know what? That was worth a try, but we’re not doing anymore.’”
As of now, Russia controls a fifth of Ukraine and has stood firm against all external pressure to not agree to any peace settlement without addressing the root cause of the issue first.
Javaria Khalid is a writer and researcher, who specializes in Pakistan's Foreign Policy Analysis, transatlantic geopolitics, and Pakistan’s relations with the European countries and the EU. She can be reached at javariakhalid011@outlook.com
