- Donald Trump says he had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that they agreed to start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine "immediately"
- Both Trump and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the two presidents agreed to visit each other's nations during the call
- Volodymyr Zelensky's office has confirmed that the Ukrainian president also spoke to his American counterpart in an hour-long phone call
- That Trump and Putin have something to talk about is quite promising, our security correspondent Frank Gardner writes - but today's development "has been a bit of a cold shower for both Ukraine and Nato"
President Donald Trump said he had a "lengthy" call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, which included the Russian leader agreeing to "immediately" begin negotiations over the war in Ukraine.
"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations," Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. "We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now. I have asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the CIA John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz, and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful."
Russia and Ukraine have been at war since February 2022, when Russia first invaded its neighboring nation. Trump repeatedly had said while on the campaign trail that if he had been president in 2022 the war would not have broken out — vowing to end it if re-elected.
Trump added in his Truth Social post that the pair discussed the U.S.-Russia relationship going back decades, including Russia's assistance in ending World War II.
