US President Donald Trump announced that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has agreed to initiate talks aimed at ending the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine.
Trump stated that Putin gave his consent for the negotiations during a telephone call they held on Wednesday.
This was the first disclosed conversation between the two leaders since Trump began his second term as US president.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump described the phone call with Putin as “lengthy and highly productive”.
He also mentioned that they both agreed to have their “respective teams start negotiations immediately”.
“As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump stated.
“President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, ‘COMMON SENSE.’ We both believe very strongly in it.”
The US negotiating team will include Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; John Ratcliffe, the CIA director; Michael Waltz, the national security adviser; and Steve Witkoff, ambassador and special envoy.
Trump expressed confidence, saying he felt “strongly” that the negotiations would succeed and added that he and Putin also agreed to visit each other’s countries.
The Ukrainian government has expressed concerns about negotiations that might prevent the US from sending troops to Ukraine.
