Donald Trump said after talks with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, the 19th of May, that Russia and Ukraine would immediately start talks on a ceasefire, but the Kremlin said the process would take time and the US president noted that he was not ready to join Europe with new sanctions to pressure Moscow, according to Reuters.
Trump wrote on social media that after his talks with Putin, he passed the plan on to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the leaders of the European Union, France, Italy, Germany and Finland.
“Russia and Ukraine will immediately begin talks on a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war”, Trump said, adding later at the White House that he believed “some progress has been made”.
Putin thanked Trump for supporting the resumption of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv after the two sides met in Turkey last week for their first direct talks since March 2022. But after Monday’s talks, he said only that efforts “are generally on the right track”.
“We agreed with the US president that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement,” Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
He said the memorandum would define “a number of positions, such as the principles of the agreement, the timing of a possible peace treaty”.
“The main thing for us is to tackle the root causes of this crisis,” Putin said. “We just need to determine the most effective ways to move towards peace.”
While indications that Ukraine and Russia will continue direct contacts show progress after more than three years of war, Monday’s talks again fell short of expectations for a major breakthrough.
European leaders decided to step up pressure on Russia by imposing additional sanctions after Trump briefed them on his conversation with Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a post on X late on Monday.
Trump did not seem ready to follow this step. Asked why he had not imposed new sanctions to force Moscow into a peace agreement, as he had threatened, Trump told reporters that he believed there is a chance to make something happen and that imposing sanctions could also make the situation much worse. “But there may come a time when that could happen,” he said.
TRAMP SAID THERE WERE “A COUPLE OF BIG EGOS” INVOLVED IN THE TALKS. WITHOUT PROGRESS, “I’LL JUST BACK OFF,” HE SAID, REPEATING THE WARNING. “THIS IS NOT MY WAR.”
After his talks with Trump, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv and its partners could seek a high-level meeting between Ukraine, Russia, the US, EU countries and the UK to end the war.
“Ukraine is ready for direct talks with Russia in any format that will bring results,” Zelenskyy said.
“It is very important for all of us that the US does not walk away from the talks and the efforts to make peace, because the only one who benefits from this is Putin,” he explained.
He said the meeting could be hosted by Turkey, the Vatican or Switzerland. It was not immediately clear whether this would be part of the talks, which Trump said would start immediately.
Moscow also welcomed the Vatican’s proposal, but no decision had been taken on the “possible venue” for future contacts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
NO TIMEFRAME SET FOR TALKS
European leaders and Ukraine have demanded that Russia agree to a ceasefire immediately and Trump is also focused on getting Putin to commit to a 30-day truce. Putin has resisted this, insisting that the conditions must first be met.
Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov said Trump and Putin did not discuss a timetable for ending the ceasefire, but discussed the exchange of nine Russians for nine Americans. He said the US leader called the prospects for relations between Moscow and Washington “impressive”.
Russian state news agencies quoted Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov as saying that Moscow and Kyiv were facing “difficult contacts” to work out a common text for a peace and ceasefire memorandum.
“There are no deadlines and there cannot be. Clearly, everyone wants to do it as soon as possible, but of course the devil is in the details,” RIA quoted Peskov as saying.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt wrote in X that the call with Trump “is undoubtedly a victory for Putin”.
The Russian leader “deflected the call for … immediate ceasefire and can instead continue military operations while exerting pressure at the negotiating table,” he said.
One person familiar with Trump’s talks with Ukrainian and European leaders said participants were “shocked” that Trump was unwilling to pressure Putin with sanctions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in post on X that the conversation with Trump was “good” and that it was “important that the US remains engaged”.
Ukraine and its supporters have accused Russia of not negotiating in good faith and of doing the minimum necessary to prevent Trump from putting new pressure on its economy.If Trump were to impose new sanctions, it would be a turning point, given that he has shown himself to be soft on Russia and has undermined the pro-Ukrainian policies of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Encouraged by Trump, delegates from the warring countries met in Istanbul last week, but the talks failed to produce a ceasefire. Hopes were shattered after Putin rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal to meet there face-to-face.
Putin, whose forces control a fifth of Ukrainian territory and are advancing, has held firm to his conditions for ending the war, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from four regions of Ukraine claimed by Russia.