KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump stated he plans to talk by cellphone Monday with Russian chief Vladimir Putin, adopted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of varied NATO international locations, about ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump stated the decision with Putin will probably be about stopping the “massacre” in Ukraine.
“Hopefully it is going to be a productive day, a ceasefire will happen, and this very violent warfare, a warfare that ought to have by no means occurred, will finish,” Trump wrote Saturday in a publish on his social networking web site Truth Social.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in feedback to Russian media that preparations have been underway for Monday’s name.
Trump’s remarks got here a day after the primary direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years didn’t yield a ceasefire. Putin had spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s offer to satisfy face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations — though not on the presidential degree — as a substitute for a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, together with the U.S.
Additionally on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a cellphone name together with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. Throughout a go to to Rome, Rubio recommended that the Vatican might be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
In Ukraine, a northeastern city declared a interval of mourning after a Russian drone hit a bus evacuating civilians from front-line areas, killing 9 folks, Ukrainian officers stated. The strike got here hours after the Russian and Ukrainian delegations left Istanbul, after agreeing to what can be the most important prisoner swap thus far between the opponents.
Zelenskyy faces a chance as talks stall
The talks in Istanbul on Friday broke up after lower than two hours with no ceasefire, though each side agreed on exchanging 1,000 prisoners of warfare every, based on the heads of each delegations. Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, stated on Ukrainian tv Saturday that the alternate might occur as early as subsequent week.
However the Kremlin has pushed again in opposition to a proposal by Ukraine and its Western allies for a brief ceasefire as a primary step towards a peaceable settlement, and the events remained far aside on key circumstances for ending the preventing.
Since U.S.-brokered talks started in March, Ukraine’s strategy has been to persuade the Trump administration that Putin is unreliable, and that Kyiv is critical about peace. Trump has expressed frustration with the stalled talks and threatened to desert his efforts if outcomes aren’t achieved.
He has additionally stated that no peace can be reached till he held a nose to nose assembly with Putin. On Friday, Trump instructed reporters after boarding Air Pressure One to return to Washington from Abu Dhabi that he could name Putin quickly.
“He and I’ll meet, and I feel we’ll clear up it, or perhaps not,” Trump stated. “At the very least we’ll know.”
The political theatrics are underscored by stark realities on the ground in Ukraine. In a warfare of attrition in opposition to Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s place is poised to develop weaker as time goes on, until highly effective sanctions are imposed in opposition to Moscow and the U.S. continues arms deliveries.
Zelenskyy stated that he had mentioned the end result of the talks with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland. In an X publish from a European management assembly in Albania on Friday, Zelenskyy urged “robust sanctions” in opposition to Moscow if it rejects “a full and unconditional ceasefire and an finish to killings.”
Peskov on Saturday held open the potential of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy, offering the agreed prisoner swap goes forward, and if the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reached unspecified additional “agreements.”
Peskov additionally instructed reporters that Moscow will current Ukraine with an inventory of circumstances for a ceasefire, however gave no timeframe, or say what wanted to occur earlier than Zelenskyy and Putin can meet.
LEON NEAL by way of Getty Photographs
A city in mourning
In Ukraine, 9 civilians have been killed and 7 others have been wounded when a Russian drone struck a bus evacuating folks from Bilopillia, a city round 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Russia’s border, based on native Gov. Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine’s nationwide police. The Related Press couldn’t independently confirm the studies. There was no instant remark from Moscow.
Zelenskyy described the assault as “deliberate killing of civilians,” including in a publish on the Telegram messaging app that “Russians might scarcely not understand what sort of automobile they have been hitting.”
The native media outlet Suspilne stated that the passengers on the bus have been being evacuated from the city when the strike occurred. Authorities are working to determine a number of the victims, most of them older girls.
Local people chief Yurii Zarko known as the day “Black Saturday,” and mourning was declared within the city by Monday.
Zelenskyy lamented the missed alternative from Friday’s peace talks, saying that “Ukraine has lengthy proposed this — a full and unconditional ceasefire with a view to save lives.”
Ukraine’s European allies strongly condemned the assault. U.Okay. Overseas Secretary David Lammy stated that he was “appalled” by it. “If Putin is critical about peace, Russia should conform to a full and instant ceasefire, as Ukraine has completed,” he wrote on X.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, talking at a joint information convention with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, condemned Russia for “persevering with their assaults in the present day with undiminished ferocity.” He vowed to proceed to extend the strain on Moscow with added sanctions.
Joanna Kozlowska reported from London. Hanna Arhirova in Istanbul, Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this report.
