Russia Ready to Draft Ceasefire Memorandum with Ukraine, Putin Tells Trump

Russia is ready to work on a memorandum with Ukraine that includes a ceasefire, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced following a phone call with his American counterpart Donald Trump.

This was the third phone conversation between Putin and Trump since the Republican’s inauguration. It began at 17:00 Moscow time and lasted more than two hours, Putin told journalists afterward.

Putin called Trump from a music school located on the grounds of the Sirius Educational Center.

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov had earlier confirmed the call would begin at 17:00 and described it as “important, given the recent negotiations in Istanbul.”

The call came three days after Russian and Ukrainian delegations met for direct negotiations in Istanbul — the first face-to-face talks between the sides in three years. As a result of those talks, Russia and Ukraine agreed to the largest prisoner exchange to date — a “1000 for 1000” swap. They also agreed that each side would present its own vision for a potential ceasefire in detail.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Ukraine had agreed to resume talks in Istanbul thanks to American support.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with the leaders of the U.S., Italy, France, and Germany ahead of the Trump–Putin call. They discussed the urgent need for a ceasefire, and the possible imposition of sanctions against Russia if it failed to engage seriously in truce efforts and negotiations.

President Trump previously stated he was ready to meet with President Putin in person within the next two to three weeks. The possibility of a Putin–Trump summit has been under discussion for several months. Amid the recent negotiations in Istanbul, Trump emphasized that no real progress toward peace would be possible until he met with Putin directly.