Trump call with Putin underway as he hopes for ceasefire progress in Russia-Ukraine war

U.S. President Donald Trump has grown “frustrated” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the White House said Monday (May 19, 2025) ahead of separate calls Mr. Trump is holding in hopes of making progress toward a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Trump expressed his hopes for a “productive day” Monday (May 19, 2025), and a ceasefire, in a social media post over the weekend. His effort will also include calls to NATO leaders. But ahead of the call, Vice President J.D. Vance said Mr. Trump is “more than open” to walking away from trying to end the war if he feels Mr. Putin isn’t serious about negotiation.

The call was underway shortly after 10 a.m., Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, promising additional details after it concludes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the conversation “important, given the talks that took place in Istanbul” last week between Russian and Ukrainian officials, the first such negotiations since March 2022.

Mr. Trump has struggled to end a war that began with Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and that makes these conversations a serious test of his reputation as a deal maker after having claimed he would quickly settle the conflict once he was back in the White House, if not even before he took office.

“He’s grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday (May 19, 2025) ahead of the call. “He has made it clear to both sides that he wants to see a peaceful resolution and ceasefire as soon as possible.”

The Republican President is banking on the idea that his force of personality and personal history with Mr. Putin will be enough to break any impasse over a pause in the fighting.

“I’d say we’re more than open to walking away,” Mr. Vance told reporters before leaving Rome after meeting with Pope Leo XIV. Mr. Vance said Mr. Trump has been clear that the U.S. “is not going to spin its wheels here. We want to see outcomes.”

Mr. Trump’s “sensibilities are that he’s got to get on the phone with President Putin, and that is going to clear up some of the logjam and get us to the place that we need to get to,” said Mr. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. “I think it’s going to be a very successful call.”

Still, there are fears that Mr. Trump has an affinity for Mr. Putin that could put Ukraine at a disadvantage with any agreements engineered by the U.S. Government.

Bridget Brink said she resigned last month as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine “because the policy since the beginning of the administration was to put pressure on the victim Ukraine, rather than on the aggressor, Russia.”

Ms. Brink said the sign that she needed to depart was an Oval Office meeting in February where Mr. Trump and his team openly berated Mr. Zelenskyy for not being sufficiently deferential to them.

“I believe that peace at any price is not peace at all,” Ms. Brink said. “It’s appeasement, and as we know from history, appeasement only leads to more war.”

Mr. Trump’s frustration about the war had been building before his post Saturday (May 17, 2025) on Truth Social about the coming calls.

Mr. Trump said his discussion with Mr. Putin would focus on stopping the “bloodbath” of the war. It will also cover trade, a sign that Mr. Trump might be seeking to use financial incentives to broker some kind of agreement after Russia’s invasion led to severe sanctions by the United States and its allies that have steadily eroded Moscow’s ability to grow.

Mr. Trump’s hope, according to the post, is that “a war that should have never happened will end.”

Mr. Vance said Mr. Trump would press Mr. Putin on whether he was serious about negotiating an end to the conflict, saying Mr. Trump doesn’t believe he is, and that Mr. Trump may wash his hands of trying to end the war.

“It takes two to tango,” Mr. Vance said, adding that “if Russia is not willing to do that, then we’re eventually just going to have to say, this is not our war. It’s Joe Biden’s war; it’s Vladimir Putin’s war.”

His treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said Sunday (May 18, 2025) on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Mr. Trump had made it clear that a failure by Mr. Putin to negotiate “in good faith” could lead to additional sanctions against Russia.

Mr. Bessent suggested the sanctions that began during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden were inadequate because they did not stop Russia’s oil revenues, due to concerns that doing so would increase U.S. prices. The United States sought to cap Russia’s oil revenues while preserving the country’s petroleum exports to limit the damage from the inflation that the war produced.

Mr. Putin recently rejected an offer by Mr. Zelenskyy to meet in-person in Turkiye as an alternative to a 30-day ceasefire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including Washington.

Those talks ended Friday (May 16, 2025) after less than two hours, without a ceasefire in place. Still, both countries committed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, with Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, saying on Ukrainian television Saturday (May 17, 2025) that the exchanges could happen as early as this week.

While wrapping up his four-day trip to the Middle East, Mr. Trump said Friday (May 16, 2025) that Mr. Putin had not gone to Turkiye because Mr. Trump himself wasn’t there.

“He and I will meet, and I think we’ll solve it or maybe not,” Mr. Trump told reporters after boarding Air Force One. “At least we’ll know. And if we don’t solve it, it’ll be very interesting.”

Mr. Zelenskyy met with Mr. Trump’s vice president, JD Mr. Vance, and top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in Rome on Sunday (May 18, 2025), as well as European leaders, intensifying his efforts before the Monday (May 19, 2025) calls.

The Ukrainian president said on the social media site X that during his talks with the American officials, they discussed the negotiations in Turkiye and that “the Russians sent a low level delegation of non-decision-makers.” He also said he stressed that Ukraine is engaged in ”real diplomacy” to have a ceasefire.

“We have also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defence cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war.”

The German Government said Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French, British and Italian leaders spoke with Mr. Trump late Sunday (May 18, 2025) about the situation in Ukraine and his upcoming call with Mr. Putin. A brief statement gave no details of the conversation, but said the plan is for the exchange to be continued directly after the Trump-Putin call.

In a post on X about the conversation, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Mr. Putin on Monday (May 19, 2025) “must show he wants peace by accepting the 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by President Trump and backed by Ukraine and Europe.”

The push came as the Kremlin launched its largest drone barrage against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, firing a total of 273 exploding drones and decoys, Ukraine’s air force said Sunday (May 18, 2025). The attacks targeted the country’s Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.

Mr. Witkoff spoke Sunday (May 18, 2025) on ABC’s “This Week” and Brink appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”