Trump spoke of 'some progress' after talks with Putin
Photo: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump described his phone conversation with Vladimir Putin as having made "some progress." He also confirmed the view that the Kremlin leader supposedly wants peace with Ukraine, according to Fox News and CNN.
American leader in the Rose Garden near the White House shared some details of his conversation with Putin on May 19 with the media.
According to Trump, the talk with Putin lasted "two and a half hours."
"I think some progress has been made," the US president said.
Speaking about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, Trump noted that "it’s a terrible situation," and mentioned the killing of "5,000 young people every single week."
"So hopefully we did something," Trump said. "We also spoke to the heads of most of the European nations, and we’re trying to get that whole thing wrapped up. What a shame that it ever started in the first place."
In addition, Trump said in response to journalists’ questions that, in his opinion, Putin supposedly "wants peace" with Ukraine.
And when asked if he trusts the Kremlin leader, the US leader also gave an affirmative answer.
Trump-Putin talk
On May 19, US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation.
The talk took place after the Kremlin rejected Kyiv’s and European and American partners’ proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in the theater of the Russia-Ukraine war, and after talks between delegations from Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul last week.
At that time, representatives of Ukraine and Russia agreed to prepare written proposals on ceasefire terms and agreed, among other things, to the release of prisoners of war in a 1,000 for 1,000 format.
According to media reports, the Russian side insisted that Ukraine withdraw its troops from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, and allegedly only under this condition would the Kremlin agree to a ceasefire.
On Monday, before and after the phone conversation with Putin, Trump also spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After the talk with Putin, Trump stated that Russia and Ukraine must immediately begin negotiations to cease fire and end the war.
For more details on how the May 19 conversation between Trump and Putin went, read the separate RBC-Ukraine report.
