Russia, Ukraine to begin truce talks immediately: Trump after Putin call

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine “will immediately start negotiations” toward a ceasefire and an end to their three-year-old war, speaking after he held a call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

“Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post following his call with Putin, which lasted two hours.

After the call, Putin said efforts to end the war were “generally on the right track” and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a potential peace deal.

“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,” Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the statement that talks would begin immediately. A source familiar with the matter earlier said Zelenskyy spoke “for a few minutes” with Trump before the US leader’s call with Putin.

Kyiv has said it is ready for a ceasefire now while Moscow has said conditions must be met first.

US Vice President JD Vance earlier repeated a warning that Washington could walk away from the peace process.

Putin said the memorandum would define “a number of positions, such as, for example, the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement.”

Putin said, “The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis”. He is likely referring to Crimea, the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, which voted in favor of joining Russia in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

Putin was speaking from Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi while Trump was in Washington. Shortly before the call, Vance told reporters that Washington recognised there was “a bit of an impasse here”.

He said, “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 any more.’”