Trump and Putin to discuss ending war in Ukraine on March 18
President Donald Trump announced that he will have a conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, March 18.
The White House stated that the talks aim to explore the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine. The announcement was made on Sunday evening during a flight from Florida to Washington aboard Air Force One, as reported by AP.
"We will see if we have anything to announce by Tuesday. I will speak with President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work has been done over the weekend. We hope to bring an end to this war," Trump said.
He clarified that among the topics to be discussed are the control of certain territories and power plants in Ukraine. "We will talk about land. We will talk about power plants," Trump said, describing the negotiations as "the division of certain assets."
Last week, Washington sent a special envoy to Moscow, Steve Witkoff, who confirmed that the conversation between Trump and Putin could take place soon.
Ukraine and the United States reached an agreement on March 11 during talks in Saudi Arabia. Kyiv agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by Washington, including on the front lines. In return, the United States agreed to resume military aid and information exchange with Ukraine, which had been suspended after a dispute between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office at the end of February.
After the talks in Saudi Arabia, a U.S. delegation traveled to Moscow to negotiate a possible ceasefire with Russia, which invaded its neighboring country three years ago.
On the evening of March 13, two days after the negotiations between Kyiv and Washington, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin announced that he agreed to a ceasefire in Ukraine, but with certain conditions. Putin expressed concern that the Ukrainian army could take advantage of this "respite" to rebuild its fighting capacity.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Putin's statements on Thursday evening, calling them "manipulative." Zelensky also accused Putin of trying to stall the response in order to prolong the war. The Ukrainian leader called for increased pressure on Moscow.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
