Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump to ask Putin if he is ‘serious and real’ about ceasefire in crucial phone call

Our reporter Tom Watling has been discussing the upcoming phone call with experts:

We have some pre-emptive analysis of today’s call between US president Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), says today’s call between the two leaders risks shifting Mr Trump back in an “anti-Ukraine direction”.

The US president is known to have quickly shifting opinions, often in line with the last person to whom he has spoken. His previous comments about Ukraine being responsible for the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion came shortly after the US president spoke to Mr Putin on the phone in February, and just a day after a Russian delegation met with the Trump administration in Saudi Arabia.

A public feud between Mr Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky later that month saw Kyiv’s leader prematurely kicked out of the White House.

After Mr Trump met with Mr Zelensky at the funeral of Pope Francis in April, his tone shifted again to become more pro-Kyiv.

Now there are concerns Mr Trump’s views could shift again.

“These calls [between Trump and Putin] tend to be terrible for Ukraine,” says Mr Bergmann.

“There is a danger that Trump buys Putin’s talking points and that shifts him in an anti-Ukraine direction, which is a path he is already prone to follow.

“I doubt this call leads to any breakthroughs toward peace. But it may help Russia’s efforts to convince Trump to blame Ukraine for the war continuing.”

We’re little over 20 minutes away from the scheduled phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, and noises are emerging from the Trump administration on what to expect.

US vice president JD Vance, who has been in Rome meeting with the new Pope Leo XIV, said Mr Trump is going to question whether Putin is serious about achieving peace.

“We realize there’s a bit of an impasse here. And I think the president’s going to say to (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin: ‘Look, are you serious? Are you real about this?'” Mr Vance told reporters as he prepared to leave Italy, adding that he had just spoken with Mr Trump.

In Washington, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked whether Mr Trump meeting the Russian president is still on the table.

He is “open” to it, she says, adding: “I think everything’s on the table. Yes. And again, I won’t get ahead of the President and any commitments or decisions, but certainly it’s something he’s been discussing.”

Karoline Leavitt says Donald Trump has “grown weary and frustrated” with “both sides” of the conflict, as he prepares to hold phone calls with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon.

“The president has made it clear his goal is to see a ceasefire and to see this conflict come to an end,” Ms Leavitt says.

“He has grown weary and frustrated with both sides of the conflict. The president and his team have put an enormous amount of effort into solving this very complicated war that, again, began because of the previous administration’s weakness.”

She had previously blasted the “incompetence and weakness” of Joe Biden – who it yesterday emerged had been diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer – and his administration.

Let’s turn to Washington D.C., where White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is currently hosting a press conference.

Asked about why Donald Trump has not ended wars in Gaza and Ukraine – while the US continues to channel money towards these regions – Ms Leavitt states that Donald Trump’s foreign policy is “America first”.

“The president is moving as quickly as he possibly can to end these conflicts in Israel and Gaza and also the Russia-Ukraine war,” she added.

He plans to call Volodymyr Zelensky after a call with Vladimir Putin this afternoon concludes, Ms Leavitt says.

“I don’t want to get ahead of those very important conversations but of course you will hear directly from the president or me after those calls conclude today.”

As news rolled in on Sunday of the Romanian election result, the EU breathed a sigh of relief.

The liberal Bucharest Mayor, Nicusor Dan, saw off nationalist George Simion, a far-right and pro-Russian candidate who wanted to halt all support for Ukraine.

But no leader would have been more relieved than Volodymyr Zelensky, after Ukraine’s neighbour to the south elected a pro-Ukraine president for the next five years.

Mr Zelensky has now congratulated Mr Simion, saying it is “essential that Romania continues to develop, and that we all cooperate together in our region and across Europe”.

He added: “This is a country on which much depends when it comes to security issues. We are deeply grateful for Romania’s contribution to protecting the lives of our people. It is important that support for Ukraine continues. Romania understands how crucial the struggle for freedom and justice is.”

The Ukrainian president invited his new Romanian counterpart to Kyiv.

Moscow and Kyiv’s meeting in Istanbul on Thursday highlighted the “stark difference” between the two countries, according to Ukraine’s foreign minister.

Andrii Sybiha took to X to make the comments, hours before Donald Trump is set to hold a critical phone call with Vladimir Putin which will discuss the results of the Istanbul talks.

“Ukraine is forward-looking, focused on the full and immediate ceasefire to kickstart the real peace process,” Mr Sybiha said.

Russia, he added, is “completely focussed on the past, rejecting the ceasefire and instead talking constantly about the 2022 Istanbul meetings, attempting to make the same absurd demands as three years ago”.

Mr Sybiha stressed that pressure on Russia “must be increased” for this reason, so that Moscow understands the “consequences of impeding the peace process”.

Three days ago, the world trained its gaze on Turkey for what many hoped would be a historic day of diplomacy.

By close of Friday, however, hopes had been dashed after direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul – the first such talks in three years – failed to bear fruit in terms of peace in Ukraine. A series of other meetings were also held among diplomats and officials from Europe and the US.

These talks, which exposed a significant chasm between Kyiv and Moscow in their visions of a peace agreement, will serve as a starting point when Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin hold a phone call at 3pm today.

“The conversation is important, taking into account the negotiations held in Istanbul,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov Peskov said. “As for the talks, we [in the Kremlin] have already said everything we could, we underscored the basic points.”

Russian negotiators on Friday made a series of demands described as unacceptable by Kyiv.

According to Bloomberg, the Moscow delegation demanded that Ukraine:

• adopt a neutral position with no foreign troops or weapons of mass destruction on its territory
• renounce claims for reparations from Russia
• recognise Russian annexation of Crimea, and four other regions which Moscow dos not fully control

Exactly where Mr Trump currently stands on the first two demands is unclear, but Washington has offered to legally recognise Russian control over Crimea in peace proposals it made in April.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky met with US vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, and European leaders in Rome yesterday, as he intensified his efforts ahead of Donald Trump’s on call with Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian president said on X that during his talks with the American officials, they discussed the negotiations in Turkey 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 Zelensky said.

“Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war,” he said.

Dmytro Guzha was returning home with his wife Elena when he felt the explosion beneath his feet – and then nothing.

“After that, I didn’t hear or see anything at all,” the 49-year-old says. He regained consciousness a few minutes later and his focus turned to Elena.

“I was really worried about my wife because I saw her and she didn’t move. Then I wanted to try to get closer to her but I couldn’t because my leg didn’t move.” That was the result of the explosion that had ripped through his lower half.

The Ukrainian city of Chuhuiv, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, faced heavy Russian bombardment in the opening weeks of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022. Guzha could see and hear explosions in the air as he and Elena took their ill-fated trip to the bakery.

Pope Leo and US vice president JD Vance have met in what has been described by the Vatican as an “exchange of views” on contentious issues surrounding Gaza and Ukraine.

The newly appointed pontiff – who as a cardinal was repeatedly critical of Trump administration policies, as well as Vance’s take on christianity – met with the vice president the morning after his inaugural mass.

Despite Pope Leo’s previous criticism, the Holy See’s press office described Monday’s meeting, in which collaboration between the church and the US government was discussed, as “cordial”.

“Finally, there was an exchange of views on some current international issues, during which hope was expressed that humanitarian law and international law be respected in areas of conflict and that there be a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” the Vatican press office said.

It follows Trump’s proposal to turn the Gaza strip into a “riviera” amid Israel’s push to force Palestinians from the territory, as well as the US government’s support for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to bring about peace.