Tuesday May 20, 2025 |
President Donald Trump spoke with President Vladimir Putin on Monday and said Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire, but the Kremlin said reaching an agreement would take time and Trump indicated he was not ready to join Europe with fresh sanctions to pressure Moscow.
In a social media post, Trump said he relayed the plan to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland in a group call following his session with the Russian leader.
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War,” Trump said, adding later at the White House that he thought “some progress is being made.”
European leaders decided to increase pressure on Russia through sanctions after Trump briefed them on his call with Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in an X post late on Monday.
Trump did not appear ready to follow that move. Asked why he had not imposed fresh sanctions to push Moscow into a peace deal as he has threatened, Trump told reporters:
“Well because I think there’s a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you can also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that’s going to happen.”
Trump said there were “some big egos involved.” Without progress, “I’m just going to back away,” he said, repeating a warning that he could abandon the process. “This is not my war.”
After speaking to Trump, Putin said efforts to end the war were “generally on the right track” and that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a potential peace deal.
“We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord,” he told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
European leaders and Ukraine have demanded Russia agree to a ceasefire immediately, and Trump has focused on getting Putin to commit to a 30-day truce. Putin has resisted this, insisting that conditions be met first.
