Washington — President Trump held a lengthy phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and directed members of his national security team to “immediately” begin negotiations aimed at ending Russia’s war with Ukraine.
The call between Mr. Trump and Putin was the first known conversation between the two since the president returned to the White House for a second term. It came a day after Russia released Pennsylvania schoolteacher Marc Fogel, who was serving a 14-year sentence and was considered by the U.S. to be wrongfully detained.
“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” the president wrote on Truth Social Wednesday morning. “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.”
Mr. Trump said he and Putin talked about the “great benefit that we will someday have in working together” and agreed on the need to end Russia’s war with Ukraine. In addition to the pledge to begin discussions on the war, the president and his Russian counterpart said they would visit “each other’s nation.”
The president said he has directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, national security adviser Michael Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff to lead negotiations on the war.
Speaking in the Oval Office later in the day, Mr. Trump said the phone call with Putin lasted roughly an hour, and said the two leaders would likely meet in Saudi Arabia for their first sitdown of his new term. He told reporters that Putin “wants peace” and “wants to see it end.” Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Mr. Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy soon after his call with the Russian leader. Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X that “[n]o one wants peace more than Ukraine” and that Ukraine is “charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace.” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement on Truth Social that the conversation with Zelenskyy went “very well” and said it’s “time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION.”
Mr. Trump’s conversation with Putin came shortly after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to undercut key Ukrainian positions in eventual peace talks, including by ruling out eventual membership in NATO. Speaking ahead of a closed-door meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group about more aid, Hegseth said peace in the country must include security guarantees that “should not be provided through NATO membership, but must instead be backed by capable European and non-European troops.”
The defense chief also said Ukraine’s goal of returning to its borders before 2014, when Russia first invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, was an “unrealistic objective.”
The president, too, has addressed the prospect of Russia maintaining control of Ukrainian territory its forces have occupied, suggesting in an interview with Fox News that aired Monday that Ukraine “may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”
In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Mr. Trump also said he is “OK” with taking the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO off the table. “I don’t think it’s practical,” he said.
Mr. Trump frequently claims that Russia would not have launched its invasion of Ukraine three years ago if he were president and vowed on the campaign trail to quickly bring an end to the war. Vice President JD Vance is set to meet with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy at a security conference in Munich that begins Friday.
The president has been a vehement critic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, prompting concerns from Kyiv that assistance would stop flowing with him back in office. He told Fox News that aid could depend on Ukraine agreeing a trade deal that gives the U.S. access to its rare earth minerals.
“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say I want it back. And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” he said. “They have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
The U.S. has provided more than $65 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, according to the State Department.
Jennifer Jacobs and
contributed to this report.