President Donald Trump is set to call Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to end the “bloodbath” war with Ukraine after peace talks resulted in a prisoner swap over the weekend.
The call is expected at 10 a.m. EST. Trump said he would speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of NATO shortly after.
“The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump added. “God bless us all!!!”
RUSSIA BOMBARDS UKRAINE WITH DRONES HOURS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCES TALKS WITH PUTIN
Just hours ahead of the call, Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine yet, firing 273 exploding drones and decoys targeting the Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions, according to Ukraine’s air force. Of those, 88 were intercepted and 128 lost, likely being electronically jammed.
Russia’s defense ministry said Monday it had downed 35 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio also met with Zelenskyy in Rome on Sunday for ongoing peace talks.
On Friday, Russian and Ukrainian officials took part in direct talks in Turkey for the first time since the early days of the war.
Initially, there was hope that Zelenskyy and Putin would sit down with each other. The Ukrainian leader said he would attend if Putin showed up. However, after the Kremlin announced they would be sending an envoy, Zelenskyy appointed his defense minister to lead the delegation.
RUBIO TEASES DETAILS OF POTENTIAL TRUMP, PUTIN IN-PERSON MEETING AFTER RUSSIA-UKRAINE CEASEFIRE TALKS STALL
The two sides each agreed to release around 1,000 prisoners of war “in the coming days,” though they failed to reach agreement on peace. Zelenskyy attributed the lack of a breakthrough to Putin sending low-level officials to the talks.
“Everyone could see that the Russian delegation in Istanbul was of a very low level. None of them were people who actually make decisions in Russia. Still, I sent our team,” Zelenskyy wrote in an X post on Friday.
Putin said Sunday any peace deal would need to “eliminate the causes that triggered this crisis” and “guarantee Russia’s security.”
Trump, meanwhile, suggested peace would not be brokered without him.
“Nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.
Ukraine has called for a 30-day, unconditional ceasefire. Putin, however, has suggested that Ukraine might use the time to rearm and mobilize.
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