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U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone on Wednesday for the first time since Trump took office. The leaders discussed the need to end the war in Ukraine among other topics.
Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, saying that he and the Russian President had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war, following a dramatic prisoner swap. Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin had a lengthy phone call during which they committed to "work together, very closely" to bring the conflict to an end.
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(Photo: Alex Brandon/AP, Sergei Bobylev/AP, AFP/JOHN HAMILTON/US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE)
“Deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, “COMMON SENSE.” We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s Nations,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. He added that he and Putin agreed to work closely together, including reciprocal visits.
Trump concluded by noting that millions have already perished in a war that never should have started if a proper leader had been in charge from the beginning—“but it did happen, so it must end. No more lives should be lost!” He expressed his gratitude to President Putin for his time and effort during the call and for yesterday securing the release of American prisoner Mark Fogel. “I believe this initiative will lead to a successful conclusion, and I hope it happens very soon,” he wrote.
Trump then called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make peace.” Trump said after the call. “It’s time to end this absurd war, which has caused enormous and entirely unnecessary death and destruction. May God bless the Russians and the Ukrainians!” Zelensky described his conversation with Trump as “highly significant” and said that the American president updated him on his call with Putin, noting, “We discussed opportunities for peace and agreed to maintain contact and schedule further meetings.”
Trump's conversation with Putin came one day after Moscow unexpectedly released American prisoner Marc Fogel from a Russian jail, allowing him to return to the United States with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff. The surprising deal was reached following secret negotiations conducted by Witkoff on Trump’s behalf and was seen as a signal of Putin’s desire to rebuild trust with the United States and reach agreements.
National Security Advisor Mike Wallace said last night that the prisoner swap was “a demonstration of goodwill on the part of the Russians and a sign that we are moving in the right direction toward ending the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine.”
Fogel, 63—a history teacher—was arrested in Russia in 2021 on drug charges after entering the country with medical marijuana. In 2023, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison. Initially, the Biden administration refrained from describing Fogel as having been wrongfully detained, thereby marking him as a candidate for a prisoner exchange like other American detainees; later, he was designated as such, and ultimately, the Trump administration completed the deal.
It was also revealed on Wednesday that in exchange for Fogel’s release, the United States freed a Russian citizen named Alexander Vinnik, head of a cybercrime network, who was arrested in Greece in 2017 and subsequently extradited to U.S. authorities. In May last year, Vinnik pleaded guilty and was convicted in connection with money laundering. U.S. authorities claim that Vinik operated cryptocurrency exchange services, allegedly transferring around $4 billion derived from ransomware attacks, identity theft, drug trafficking, and other criminal activities.
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Reuters also reported on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was involved in discussions regarding Fogel’s release—raising questions as to whether this indicates a broader, multi-layered deal with further developments to be announced later.
During his campaign, Trump had promised that if elected he would end the war between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours.” He and many Republicans have criticized the enormous sums Washington pays in military aid to Kyiv as wasteful, suggesting that Ukraine might have to make painful concessions, including relinquishing vast territories captured over the past 11 years by Putin’s forces. In an interview with Fox News earlier this week, Trump even entertained the possibility that Ukraine might one day rejoin Russia, echoing the days of the Soviet Union.
In a meeting with senior NATO officials in Brussels on Wednesday, Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared that while the United States aims to see Ukraine continue as an independent state, its accession to NATO—an idea that was among Putin’s justifications for his deep invasion of Ukraine in February 2022—is an “unrealistic aspiration.” Hegseth further asserted that the goal of Ukraine’s supporters to reclaim all territories lost since 2014 is “an illusion,” sending a clear signal to Kyiv that the Trump administration would not support Zelensky’s demand that Moscow return all the lands it captured, which comprise roughly one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory.