Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke for more than two hours in a call that Putin called “informative, frank and very useful”, RIA Novosti reports. Follow the latest below and catch up with our last Ukraine Q&A.
Monday 19 May 2025 20:34, UK
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Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Kyiv and its allies were considering arranging a high-level meeting between Ukraine, Russia, the US, EU countries and the UK as part of a push to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking after holding two phone calls with Donald Trump, the Ukrainian leader said the meeting could be hosted by Turkey, the Vatican or Switzerland.
“We are considering a meeting of all teams at a high level,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump one-on-one on Monday before the US leader called Vladimir Putin, and again afterwards in a conversation that involved the leaders of France, Finland, Germany, Italy and the European Union.
The Ukrainian president said that during his first call with Trump he underlined the need for a ceasefire and sanctions on Russia as well as the importance of Kyiv’s allies not reaching agreements with Russia without Ukraine.
“I am very focused, it is a challenging time for us now,” he said.
Zelenskyy said he expected Europe to announce a “strong” new package of sanctions on Russia, though he did not elaborate.
He called on the US to sanction Russia’s banking and energy sectors to reduce the revenue for its military needs.
He said he hoped that a major prisoner swap agreed in principle at the talks in Istanbul would happen in either days or weeks.
Amnesty International says a ban imposed by Russia was an attempt to silence dissent but that the group would redouble efforts to expose Moscow’s human rights violations.
This morning, Russia’s prosecutor general’s office said Amnesty had been dubbed an “undesirable organisation”, making sharing their reports punishable with jail time.
“This decision is part of the Russian government’s broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad.”
Amnesty is far from the first organisation to fall foul of Russian censorship, with the state’s list of “undesirable organisations” covering 223 entities.
These include US-funded broadcaster RFE/RL and international environmental organisation Greenpeace.
EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has praised Donald Trump for what she calls “his tireless efforts” to bring about a ceasefire.
She said she was debriefed on the US president’s call with Vladimir Putin alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French president Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“It’s important that the US stays engaged,” she said.
“We will continue to support Volodymyr Zelenskyy to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.”
It is difficult to read the outcome of the Putin-Trump call as anything other than failure on Donald Trump’s part, says US correspondent James Matthews.
“How can this be spun by Donald Trump as anything other than a US president who has failed? Who has failed in negotiation, diplomacy, and the stewardship of this conflict?
“Vladimir Putin, if he has not played Donald Trump and not humiliated him thus far, then that readout that the Russians are giving us reinforces the notion that he is very much in control of events.”
The Trump administration was putting out an “America first” message ahead of the call, with JD Vance saying the US was prepared to walk away.
Putin would have heard that and thought that if he sits tight, the Americans will walk away, leaving Ukraine exposed to further battlefield advances, says Matthews.
“Ukraine [and] allied European leaders have been concerned that they were being sold out by Donald Trump.
“They have been prepared to wait for him to implement the solution that he has long-promised, because they need the United States.
“They are now staring down the barrel of this pivotal call that has taken them no further forward and places Ukraine in even greater jeopardy.”
He adds: “Russia would appear to be simply sitting tight and delaying this process, not implementing any step forward as progress, but merely sidestepping.
“Donald Trump actually hasn’t laid a glove on them, for all the talk of competence stick, it’s been very much carrot for Moscow.”
Donald Trump says Russia and Ukraine will “immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire”, following his call with Vladimir Putin.
It is unclear how this differs from negotiations that already began in Turkey on Friday between Ukrainian and Russian delegations.
“The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!” he posted on Truth Social, in a tone far more optimistic than that of Vladimir Putin’s.
He said the phone call “went very well”.
“The tone and spirit of the conversation were excellent.”
Expanding on the negotiations, Trump said: “The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.”
Trump said Russia wants to take part in “largescale TRADE” once the war has ended.
He added: “There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is UNLIMITED.
“Likewise, Ukraine can be a great beneficiary on trade, in the process of rebuilding its country.”
Ukraine and its European allies will be disappointed and alarmed by the Russian account of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s phone call, says Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett.
“I think European leaders and Ukraine will be very disappointed that Donald Trump has not seemingly applied more pressure on Vladimir Putin.
“They had hoped that this would be the moment that Donald Trump would follow through on his threats to put pressure on Vladimir Putin and push him closer to a ceasefire.”
According to Putin, there was no talk of sanctions and Trump even said Russia favoured a peaceful resolution of the crisis.
“I think this line from the Russian president might alarm Ukraine’s European allies.
“They, I think, would interpret this as once again, Russia dragging its feet and once again swerving demands for a 30-day ceasefire.”
Bennett says that despite the length of the call, it seems like not much has actually changed.
“It doesn’t seem to have moved the dial closer towards a peace deal or at least a ceasefire, even, in Ukraine at all.”
Putin’s statement that a ceasefire with Ukraine is possible once agreements are reached is “pretty much the same as what Russia has been saying for the past two months”.
All a memorandum on future peace talks really means is that talks will continue, explains Bennett.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has ordered the formation of a “permanent and expanded national negotiation group”.
In a post on Facebook, the Ukrainian president said: “Ukraine is not afraid of direct talks with Russia, and it is important that the Russian leadership not prolong the war.”
He said Russian attempts to “issue threats” to his negotiation team in Turkey were rejected and the Ukrainian delegation succeeded in “keeping the talks in a dignified manner”.
“We are also prepared for a meeting at the level of leaders to solve the key issues,” said Zelenskyy.
Moscow has so far rejected the idea of a meeting between Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin.
As for the only substantive agreement to come out of the Turkey talks – a swap of 1,000 prisoners each – Zelenskyy said: “Our team is currently working through the details of the exchange.”
For a summary of the talks, watch below…
A phone conversation held by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has now ended, according to Russian state media.
The pair spoke for more than two hours in a call that Putin called “informative, frank and very useful”, RIA Novosti reported.
“A ceasefire in the situation in Ukraine for a certain period of time is possible if appropriate agreements are reached,” the Russian leader reportedly said.
Russia is ready to work with Kyiv on a memorandum on a future peace treaty, Tass quoted the Russian president as saying.
Tass also reported that Trump said Russia favours a peaceful resolution to the conflict, despite Moscow unilaterally launching the invasion and sending only a low-level delegation of junior politicians to Friday’s peace talks.
IFX reported Putin said the root causes of the conflict must be eliminated – language the Russian leader often uses as code to mean the removal of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the installation of a Russian proxy government, as well as the incorporation of five Ukrainian regions into Russia.
Vladimir Putin’s phone call with Donald Trump today was supposed to come before the US president spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
But a source has told Reuters that Zelenskyy actually spoke with Trump over the phone beforehand.
The exchange was brief, lasting “for a few minutes”.
Sky News is unable to independently verify these reports.
By James Matthews, US correspondent
By now, the “peacemaker” president will have learned the challenges in making peace with Putin.
“Join the club,” as they might say in Kyiv and in European capitals that have long known the difficulty in cracking the Russian code.
Those same places have waited for Donald Trump to deliver on the promise of an Ukraine/Russia solution. He has punted the value of his personal intervention, presenting himself as the man to shift Putin to suit all.
The notion hasn’t worn well through stilted negotiation.
Moscow is unwavering and unmoved. A US president who has brought a new and different approach to foreign policy has run into the same old Russia, welded to its vision of how this conflict ends.
The power balance shaped prior to the phone call didn’t necessarily lean towards Washington. At every turn, Putin has thwarted Trump’s diplomacy by ignoring calls for a ceasefire, calls for a meeting and calls to stop bombing.
There’s a point at which it takes on the look of humiliation, of a US president played. We may already be there.
Putin does a good impression of a president disengaged from allied attempts to wrap him into a peace agreement.
It’s a concern of European leaders, similarly worried that Trump doesn’t see it.
There’s a reason they were in contact with the US president the day before his Putin call to discuss the use of sanctions if Russia failed to engage seriously in a ceasefire and peace talks.
It was Europe’s reminder that, in dealing with Moscow, he wields a stick as well as a carrot.
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