Vladimir Putin responds to ceasefire deal with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in on the US-brokered ceasefire for Ukraine. Ukraine’s Zelenskyy fired back.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to discuss a Ukraine ceasefire and the contours of a potential peace deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a Tuesday call.
Trump told reporters late Sunday evening on Air Force One that he hoped to have something to announce by Tuesday, when he’s scheduled to speak with Putin.
“We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question. But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia,” Trump said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Monday that a call between the leaders would take place on Tuesday. It is their second known conversation since Trump took office in January.
Conversations about bringing the war to a close have quickened over the past several weeks, with a succession of Western leaders visiting Washington, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
In an Oval Office meeting last Thursday with Rutte, Trump said “concepts” of land and Ukraine’s entry into NATO were under discussion.
“We’ve been discussing with Ukraine land and pieces of land that would be kept and lost and all of the other elements of a final agreement. There’s a power plant involved, you know a very big power plant involved. Who’s going to get the power plant and who’s going to get this and that?” Trump said.
Trump appeared to be referring to Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station, the largest power plant in Europe. It has been under Russian control since 2022.
U.S. negotiators met last week in Saudi Arabia with top aides to Zelenskyy. Ukraine agreed to a U.S. proposed ceasefire with Russia at the end of the session.
Russia has not accepted the terms of the agreement and accelerated its attacks on Ukraine, with the two countries engaging in an intensive aerial fighting over the weekend.
Zelenskyy has pushed the U.S. to increase its sanctions on Russia in the interim.
“We will do everything to further intensify diplomacy. We will do everything to make diplomacy effective. But every day now is about defending our independence, our state, and our people,” he said Sunday on X. “We must remember – it is the support of our army, all our defense and security forces, and our state that determines everything.”