U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that he will discuss ending the war in Ukraine over the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and leaders of many NATO nations on Monday, May 19.
Trump said the talk with Putin will be about halting the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday, saying, “Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this extremely horrible war, a war that should have never happened, will stop.”
In remarks to Russian media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged that the call was being prepared for Monday.
Trump’s comments were made the day after Moscow and Kyiv’s first direct negotiations in years ended without a truce. Putin had rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to meet in person in Turkey after Zelenskyy himself suggested direct talks, albeit not at the presidential level, as a substitute for the 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine and its Western allies, notably the United States, had called for.
Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian equivalent of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called Rubio on Saturday, May 17. Rubio said during a trip to Rome that Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations might take place at the Vatican.
In Ukraine, a northeastern town declared a period of mourning after a Russian drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from front-line areas, killing nine people, Ukrainian officials said. The strike came hours after the Russian and Ukrainian delegations left Istanbul, after agreeing to what would be the biggest prisoner swap to date between the warring parties.
The talks in Istanbul on Friday broke up after less than two hours without a ceasefire, although both sides agreed on exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations. Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said on Ukrainian television Saturday that the exchange could happen as early as next week.
But the Kremlin has pushed back against a proposal by Ukraine and its Western allies for a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement, and the parties remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.
Since U.S.-brokered talks began in March, Ukraine’s strategy has been to convince the Trump administration that Putin is unreliable, and that Kyiv is serious about peace. Trump has expressed frustration with the stalled talks and threatened to abandon his efforts if results aren’t achieved.
He has also said that no peace would be reached until he held a face to face meeting with Putin. On Friday, Trump told reporters after boarding Air Force One to return to Washington from Abu Dhabi that he may call Putin soon.
In a war of attrition against Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s position is poised to grow weaker as time goes on, unless powerful sanctions are imposed against Moscow and the U.S. continues arms deliveries.
Zelenskyy said that he had discussed the outcome of the talks with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland. In an X post from a European leadership meeting in Albania on Friday, Zelenskyy urged “tough sanctions” against Moscow if it rejects “a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings.”
Peskov on Saturday held open the possibility of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy, providing the agreed prisoner swap goes ahead, and if the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reached unspecified further “agreements.”
Peskov also told reporters that Moscow will present Ukraine with a list of conditions for a ceasefire, but gave no timeframe, or say what needed to happen before Zelenskyy and Putin can meet.
Ukraine’s European allies strongly condemned the attack. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that he was “appalled” by it. “If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.
Additionally, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, speaking at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, condemned Russia for “continuing their attacks today with undiminished ferocity.” He vowed to continue to increase the pressure on Moscow with added sanctions.
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