Moscow: After a two-hour telephonic conversation with US President Donald Trump on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum dealing with a peace accord and said that efforts to end the war with Ukraine were on the right track. Putin, while expressing gratitude to Trump, credited the US president for the resumption of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv as the two warring nations met in Turkey last week for face-to-face negotiations, first time since March 2022. But after the phone call with Trump on Monday, Putin said that efforts were “generally on the right track”.
In a statement to media near the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said “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 said as part of the memorandum, both Russia and Ukraine will have to define a possible ceasefire and a timeframe for the same. Ukraine, its European allies and Trump-led United States have all urged Putin to agree to a 30-day unconditional and immediate ceasefire deal and pause the over three-year-long hostilities in the region.
After holding a two hour long call with Putin, US President Trump said Russia and Ukraine would begin negotiations for a ceasefire immediately. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the conversation with the Russian counterpart “went very well” and that talks for an immediate ceasefire and to end the three year long war would now begin. The US president further informed that he also held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
