WASHINGTON — A high-stakes phone call Monday between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin produced no immediate breakthrough on ending the war in Ukraine, U.S. and European officials said. Trump told reporters after the roughly two-hour call that he had secured a pledge from Moscow and Kyiv to “immediately” begin cease-fire negotiations. “Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately,” Trump wrote on his social media platform following the call. He said the Vatican and the newly installed Pope had offered to host the talks “in the same spirit” of the conversation.
In Moscow, Putin told reporters the call was “very informative and quite a frank conversation” that underscored both sides’ commitment to pursue peace. He said he thanked the U.S. president for supporting the resumption of direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations and noted that Russia, too, “favours a peaceful settlement.” Putin said Moscow would work with Kyiv on a joint “memorandum” outlining possible steps toward a peace accord, including principles and timing of a future cease-fire. “We simply must determine the most effective ways of moving towards peace,” Putin said. He added that recent face-to-face talks in Turkey gave “reason to believe that we are generally on the right track”.
Despite Trump’s upbeat tone, Western and Ukrainian officials voiced skepticism that Monday’s discussion had produced anything tangible. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Trump’s announcement, and Kyiv’s demands remain unchanged. Zelenskiy has repeatedly insisted on an unconditional 30-day truce as a first step toward ending the war and has said he will attend peace talks only if Putin himself agrees to meet him in person. “We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war,” Zelenskiy said at a press briefing last week. He added pointedly that the Russian leader has so far been “scared of direct talks with me”.
European leaders had urged Trump in advance to press Moscow for a cease-fire. Britain, France, Germany and Italy spoke with Trump on Sunday, calling for tougher sanctions on Russia if it refuses to halt its attacks. European Council President António Costa, speaking in London before the call, said the European Union was “waiting with anxiety” for its outcome and stressed that an immediate, unconditional cease-fire is “essential”. So far, however, no substantive terms for a truce emerged. U.S. and Ukrainian officials note that Ukraine says it is ready to stop fighting now, whereas Russia has insisted on undefined preconditions.
In Washington, Vice President J.D. Vance cautioned reporters Sunday that the diplomatic effort was stalling. “We recognize there’s a bit of an impasse here,” he said. Vance predicted Trump would put that question to Putin: “‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?’” He warned that a cease-fire requires both sides to cooperate. “It takes two to tango,” he said. “I think the president’s willing to do that, but if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to say: ‘This is not our war.’”. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump wants a truce but has grown “weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” adding that “everything’s on the table” if Moscow stalls.
The call came days after representatives from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul for their first direct negotiations since 2022 – talks that ended without agreement on any cease-fire. Trump had pushed the Turkish meeting and sent envoys to participate. In recent weeks, the White House has presented the Ukraine war as a proxy conflict in which Trump is racing to broker peace. But Ukraine’s allies say Russia has made no serious concessions. In Istanbul, Moscow agreed only to pause strikes on energy facilities – a step that Kyiv says Russia promptly violated – and declined a proposed 30-day cease-fire sought by Ukraine.
Fighting continues unabated along the front. On Sunday, Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine killed dozens of civilians, including women and children, according to Ukrainian officials. (The attacks hit a civilian bus in the Sumy region and an apartment block in Kyiv, among other targets.) Both sides have shown little sign of backing down.
Trump’s post-call optimism contrasts with the caution of his European and Ukrainian counterparts. Russia’s insistence on negotiating a detailed memorandum means any truce may come slowly – if at all. As Putin told Russian journalists, both sides need to work out the “root causes of this crisis” and how to resolve them. For now, though, analysts say Moscow appears in no hurry to meet Kyiv’s terms. “Despite the high-level talk, no breakthrough was reached,” said one European diplomat. “The war is likely to continue for now.”
