U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday as part of a new White House initiative to secure a ceasefire in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Trump also plans to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on May 19.
Steve Witkoff, a White House envoy who has met with Putin three times, said the upcoming call with the Russian leader will help clarify the current situation and explore ways to conclude negotiations.
“They know each other. The President is determined to do something here… If he can’t do it, no one can,” Witkoff told ABC News over the weekend.
These calls follow recent direct talks in Istanbul between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators — the first since the broad Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
Trump described the phone calls as focused on ending the “massacre.”
“I hope it will be a productive day, that there will be a ceasefire, and that this very violent war, which should never have started, will end,” Trump wrote on social media.
The Istanbul talks, which included separate discussions with U.S. officials, yielded modest results such as an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war. However, no commitment to halt fighting was made, and Russia launched one of the largest drone attacks Ukraine has seen over the weekend.
Russian negotiators reportedly made maximal demands, including the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from partially occupied territories and other conditions first presented in spring 2022. Ukraine and its Western allies have categorically rejected these terms.
Since starting his second presidential term in January, Trump has prioritized ending Russia’s war in Ukraine, but efforts have been hampered by ongoing Russian offensives and Moscow’s refusal to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, which Ukraine has signed.
Following initial tensions with Kyiv, the White House has increasingly focused criticism on Moscow, with U.S. officials adopting a tougher public tone.
