Putin, Trump talk over phone, plan to meet in person

The Kremlin and White House announced separately on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump had held a phone conversation, with Trump later saying the leaders could meet in Saudi Arabia. 

"The Russian president has invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Putin expressed readiness to receive U.S. officials in Moscow.

"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Trump said, offering his version of the content of the call in a post on Truth Social.

'Negotiations to begin'

The two presidents discussed the situation in Ukraine and the peaceful settlement of the conflict, Peskov said, stressing that Trump embraced a quick ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the problem while Putin underlined the need to eliminate the root causes of the Ukraine conflict.

While Trump said he and Putin agreed that "we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine."

"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's Nations. We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now," Trump said.

He said he has asked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff to lead the U.S. team in the negotiations.

Trump said he felt "strongly" that the negotiations between the United States and Russia "will be successful."

'Extensive and substantive'

The Kremlin described the phone conversation as an "extensive and substantive dialogue," which lasted nearly 90 minutes.

"During the talks, they also touched upon the issues of the Middle East, Iran's nuclear program as well as Russia-U.S. relations in the economic domain," Peskov said.

He also noted that Putin and Trump, during the talks, agreed to keep personal contacts, including arranging a meeting in the future.

"We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects," Trump wrote.

Meeting reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he and Putin will meet in Saudi Arabia, without providing a date. He added the two would also visit each other's countries to meet.

Ukraine unlikely to join NATO

Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke after Trump's call with Putin, and Zelenskyy's office said the conversation lasted for about an hour.

"I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We... talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together ...and Ukraine's technological capabilities... including drones and other advanced industries," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Trump also told reporters that he agreed with his defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who told a NATO summit on Wednesday that there was no likelihood of Ukraine joining the military alliance.

"I think that's probably true," Trump said.

Earlier at the NATO meeting, Hegseth indicated that Trump is determined to get Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine. He also stressed that the U.S. does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.

UN welcomes efforts

The United Nations welcomes all efforts to resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict and sees the phone call between the U.S. and Russian leaders as a "positive thing," a UN spokesman said Wednesday.

"What we would appreciate is any efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine that would involve the Russian and Ukrainian sides. And so obviously, if both of them are willing to be involved in a process, that would be a welcome development," said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"Given the importance of the United States and the Russian Federation, the UN welcomes any efforts to resolve issues through regular contact," the spokesman said at a daily press briefing, calling the conversation between Putin and Trump "a positive thing."

When asked whether the UN will be part of the negotiations, Haq said, "We would have to see what role we would have to play. Obviously, as we've said many times over the last three years, the United Nations is willing to play a good offices role if asked to by the parties."

(With input from agencies)