BBC News
EPAUS President Donald Trump said he had a “very lengthy and productive” phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, which the leaders agreed to start negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In a post on the social truth platform, Trump said that he and the Russian president “agreed to start our teams in the negotiations immediately” and called each other to visit the capitals of each of them.
Later, Ukrainian President Voludmir Zelinski said he had spoken with Trump about “a permanent and reliable peace.”
The calls came with the warring aspects, as Trump and his secretary said to the defense that it is unlikely that Ukraine will join NATO, which will be a bitter disappointment for Kiev.
Zelinski said that he would meet Vice President GD Verse and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio during the defense summit in Ukraine in Munich on Friday.
Trump wrote on social media: “It is time to stop this funny war, as there was huge and completely necessary, death and destruction. God bless Russia and Ukraine!”
He did not set an appointment to hold a face meeting with Putin, but he later told the correspondents at the White House: “We will meet in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
Carmelin Dmitry Peskov spokesman said Putin had supported Trump’s idea that it was time to work together.
Peskov said that the phone call between Putin and Trump lasted for nearly an hour and a half, as the Russian president extended an invitation to visit Moscow.
Trump also told the White House correspondents that Ukraine is unlikely to return to its borders before 2014, but in response to a question from the BBC, he said, “Some of that land will return.”
The president said that he agreed with Defense Minister Beit Higseth, who informed the NATO Summit earlier on Wednesday that there was no possibility that Ukraine would join the military alliance.
“I think this is probably true,” Trump said.
The UK government said it would continue to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia, as Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rainer told ITV that London’s support for Kev had remained “steadfast.”
In his assessment of the mood in the capital of Ukraine, James Waterhouse of the BBC says Higseth’s speech will be a physical blow to Kev.
Although it was long known that the new American administration was less sympathetic to Ukraine than its predecessor, our correspondent adds, all the words of Higseth will likely be for Moscow only.
There was a denial of NATO membership, which is the view that Ukraine could not win and mystery on how to mobilize the frozen front line in the future – all of this added to a tangible return of Russia’s 11 -year aggression of aggression towards Ukraine.
Zelensky has repeatedly argued that “there could be no conversations on Ukraine without Ukraine” – but Trump Putin’s phone call occurred in his absence.
Zelinski said that his invitation with Trump was a “good and detailed discussion” about a variety of issues, and that we also met the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessin, who is visiting Kiev.
“No one wants peace more than Ukraine. With the United States, we draw our next steps to stop the Russian aggression and ensure a permanent and reliable peace,” Zelinski wrote.
The Ukrainian leader added: “We have agreed to maintain more communication and planning for the upcoming meetings.”
The call between the United States and Ukrainian leaders continued for an hour, according to news agency, to Agence France -Presse.
in Interview with the guardian Zelensky was published on Tuesday, when Ukraine -controlled Russian lands can be replaced by the Ukrainian lands in the Russian West Cursk region as part of a peace agreement.
Putin Peskov spokesman said this is “impossible.”
“Russia has never discussed and will not discuss the exchange of its territory. Ukrainian units will be expelled from this region. All those who have not been destroyed will be expelled.”
Zelensky also insisted that the United States, not only European countries, will need to be part of any security package for his country.
“Security guarantees without America are not real security guarantees,” he said.
Separately, Trump said at the “stage you will have elections” in Ukraine, while it was seen as a sign of the end of the term of Zelinski’s presidential term in May 2024.
Zelinski says that the continuous Russian invasion and combat rule in Ukraine makes it impossible to hold new presidential elections.
Putin has repeatedly interrogated the legitimacy of Zelinski to hold any negotiations with Moscow.
In the wake of the overthrow of the pro -Russian President of Ukraine in 2014, Moscow included the Black Crimea Peninsula and supported the separatists supporting Russia in bloody fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The conflict in the comprehensive war exploded when Russia has invaded Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Moscow’s attempts to control the capital Kiev were thwarted, but Russian forces took about five Ukraine lands in the east and south, and they carried out air strikes throughout the country.
Ukraine has averaged by artillery and drone strikes, as well as a ground attack against the Russian West Cursk region.
It is difficult to obtain accurate census of injuries due to secrecy by both Russian and Ukrainian governments, but it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people, most of them soldiers, have been killed or wounded, and millions of Ukrainian civilians fled the refugees.
