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U.S. President Donald Trump announced Saturday he will speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, May 19, to discuss ending what he called the "bloodbath" in Ukraine, following the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in more than three years.
"I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M.," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. The Kremlin confirmed the call is "being prepared," according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
The scheduled conversation comes a day after delegations from Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul on Friday, resulting in an agreement to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each.
Trump, who has been pressing Russia to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, said he would speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO officials after his call with Putin.
The Kremlin said Saturday that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement.
"We consider it possible, but only as a result of the work and upon achieving certain results in the form of an agreement between the two sides," the Kremlin's spokesperson said regarding a potential Putin-Zelenskyy meeting.
Early Saturday, a Russian drone attack on a minibus carrying evacuated civilians in Ukraine's eastern Sumy region killed nine people and wounded five, local authorities said.
"Without stronger sanctions, without stronger pressure on Russia, there will be no real diplomacy there," Zelenskyy insisted after denouncing the attack and Russia's refusal to agree to a ceasefire.
On Sunday morning, local authorities in the Kyiv region reported that a woman had been killed in a drone attack in the Obukhiv district. Another woman, a man, and a four-year-old child were wounded in the strike, which hit a private house, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv region's military administration.
Ukraine's top negotiator, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said the "next step" would be meeting Zelenskyy and Putin. However, Trump has argued that "nothing's going to happen" on the conflict until he meets Putin face-to-face.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the latest prisoner exchange in a telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "We talked about a variety of things," Rubio told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" in a CBS interview airing Sunday. "I wanted to get his readout on his view of how the talks went yesterday. They were not a complete waste of time."
In an interview with CBS, Rubio said Lavrov told him Moscow was preparing a document outlining its requirements for a ceasefire. "Are they tapping us along? Well, that's what we're trying to find out," Rubio told Brennan when asked if Russia and Ukraine seek to talk to "buy time." "We'll find out pretty soon."
"If Russia and Moscow can both provide 'serious and viable' proposals, then there's been real progress, and we can work off of that," Rubio said. "The mechanics of setting that kind of meeting up would require a little bit of work, so I can't say that's being planned as we speak in terms of picking a site and a date," Rubio said. "But the president wants to do it. He wants to do it as soon as feasible."
The Vatican has made a "very generous offer" to host any peace talks. Rubio, who is in Rome to attend the Mass for the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, said the Vatican would be a place that "all parties would feel comfortable."
Zelenskyy accused Putin of being "afraid" after he declined to travel to Türkiye for talks and argued that Russia was not taking the negotiations seriously.
"Yesterday in Istanbul, everyone saw a weak and unprepared Russian delegation with no significant powers. This must change. We need real steps to end the war," Zelenskyy said Saturday.
According to the Anadolu Agency, Trump believes his planned discussion with Putin will cover both the Ukrainian conflict and trade issues. Trump stated, "HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END."
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