The Kremlin said on Monday that the work was underway to prepare the second phone call between President Vladimir F. Putin and President Trump, but he refused to reveal what will be on the agenda, as US officials continued to provide optimism about the ceasefire deal with Ukraine.
The very expected phone call, scheduled to be held on Tuesday, will be the first known conversation between the two leaders because Mr. Putin set many conditions for a ceasefire that may delay or hinder any truce.
Speaking on the first air force on Sunday evening, Mr. Trump said he expected to discuss regional issues with Mr. Putin as well as the fate of Ukrainian power stations. He also indicated that there were already discussions on “dividing some assets”.
Mr. Trump said: “We want to see whether we can finish.” “Perhaps we can. Maybe we cannot, but I think we have a very good chance.”
The Kremlin spokesman confirmed on Monday that a call is expected to be made the next day. When asked if the Ukrainian nuclear power plants would be discussed, Dmitry Peskov spokesman said that in “Moscow’s opinion” the contents of the talks between the two leaders cannot be discussed.
“That’s why we will not do it,” he said.
In recent weeks, Russia and the United States have been involved in bargaining the shared rope around the war in Ukraine, which was started by Mr. Putin more than three years ago. Ukraine has agreed to support the ceasefire for a month backed by the United States, as long as Russia does the same.
While Mr. Trump has unambiguously offered his desire to achieve a kind of truce as quickly as possible, Mr. Putin seems to be seeking to use the moment to win more concessions.
Speaking of a 30 -day ceasefire proposal last week, Mr. Putin said the idea was “the right and we definitely support it.”
“But there are questions that we need to discuss, and I think we need to talk to them with our American colleagues and partners,” he said at a press conference.
These statements came before Mr. Putin met with Steve Witkeov, who is the special envoy of Mr. Trump to the Middle East. But he participated in peace talks on Ukraine and other discussions about the restoration of relations between Moscow and Washington.
Mr. Witkeov CNN told Sunday that his meeting with the leader of Russia lasted three to four hours. He refused to share the details of their conversation, but he said that it was well walked and that the two sides “narrowed the differences between them.”
Moscow’s batch was forbidden to expel the Ukrainian forces from most of the Kursk region in Russia in the last days of Kiev from an important compromise segment in any possible negotiations. Mr. Putin seems to be now using the Ukrainian decline in Kursk to try to strengthen his hand in talks with the Trump administration about stopping hostilities.
Tyler Pege The reports contributed.
