Trump’s Call for an End to the War in Ukraine and a Resolution of the Russian-Ukraine War-Initiation Controversy
As he tries to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, President Donald Trump has made calls to leaders in Russia, as well as to some European countries.
Vice President Vance spoke to reporters as he prepared to leave Italy and said that he thought President Putin didn’t know how to get out of the war.
The phone diplomacy follows direct talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on Friday, where both sides said they would each exchange 1,000 war prisoners but failed to agree on an immediate ceasefire. The negotiations in Turkey were the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has kept up Russia’s military pressure on Ukraine, launching mass drone attacks throughout the weekend, including a barrage on Sunday that Ukrainian authorities said was the largest since the conflict began.
On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt repeated Trump has “grown very frustrated with both sides of the conflict” but was keeping his options open.
In a weekend interview on Russian state television, Putin insisted Moscow maintained both the force and means capable of meeting its military objectives. He said that would include security for residents in territories of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control.
Should Trump fail to convince Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire, European leaders have urged Trump to join them in imposing an endgame round of additional sanctions and tariffs on Russian energy and banking.
“Russia at this certain point can continue its military operations. Ivan Timofeev, the head of the Russian International Affairs Council, said that the harm from sanctions isn’t critical to the economy of Russia.
How the war ends matters for Americans, but the war is not as distant as Mr. Trump thinks. Mr. Putin wants to reestablish Russian power in Europe and shape global outcomes by restoring the post-Cold War order. Russia can only increase its global influence by reducing the US, according to the view of Mr. Putin. What’s more, a negotiated peace that emboldens Russia would leave Europe, one of America’s largest trading partners, vulnerable, and could deepen other challenges that the United States is already facing around the world.