Vatican peace talks and a threatened ‘red line’ – what comes after the Trump-Putin phone call?
A much-hyped phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday was followed up by optimistic statements by the pair – but there are doubts over whether it marked any real progress towards peace in Ukraine.
Days after Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in Istanbul met for the first time in three years, the White House had hoped this conversation would demonstrate Trump’s influence in the Kremlin, as he tries to push his Russian counterpart towards a ceasefire.
The US president had expected a “productive day” in which he also spoke to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and other western leaders in a bid to end the bloodbath in Ukraine.
But the results appear to fall short of any concrete developments towards peace in Ukraine, instead merely laying the groundwork for more talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Trump said on TruthSocial that the call went “very well”, adding that Moscow and Kyiv will “immediately” begin ceasefire talks with the aim of bringing an end to the war.
The conditions of this ceasefire will be “negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of,” he said.
Putin said he is prepared to work with Ukraine to establish a “memorandum on a possible future peace agreement”, but in his remarks did not address any of the other demands made by Washington and Europe, including a 30-day unconditional ceasefire to allow for long-term peace negotiations.
Talks could, Trump suggested, be held at the Vatican. Following the Istanbul talks on Friday, the American pontiff Pope Leo XIV, who has called for peace in Ukraine multiple times in the first weeks of his papacy, had offered to hold direct talks between the countries.
Trump said the “tone” of his call with Putin was “excellent” and suggested that the Russian leader had expressed a desire for “largescale TRADE” with the US after the war ends. Kyiv could also benefit from further trade with Washington, he added.
Putin was also outwardly positive about the call, in which he appears to have avoided making the concrete commitments towards peace which Trump has sought from Moscow.
He said Russia is ready to work towards ending the fighting in Ukraine, and that both Moscow and Kyiv would need to find compromises to suit all parties to “simply determine the most effective paths towards peace”.
Moscow is likely to be content with the result, again showing that it can resist pressure from the Trump administration to accept the 30-day ceasefire – a proposal to which Kyiv has already agreed.
Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday the call was a “defining moment” but added that Putin is “trying to buy time” and to continue the war in Ukraine.
“We are working with our partners to ensure that pressure forces Russians to change their behaviour. Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone making them more biting for those responsible for this war,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday.
