Trump says the main goal of the call is to stop the war in Ukraine and to discuss trade between the two countries.
“The subjects of the call will be stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on average, more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week, and trade,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday.
This announcement came just one day after Ukraine and Russia held face-to-face talks in Turkey. These were the first direct talks between the two countries since 2022.
During the talks, they agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners, which gave hope for peace. However, Trump believes no real progress will be made until he personally talks to Putin.
“I don’t believe anything is going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump told reporters earlier in the week.
He also said he plans to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO leaders after the call with Putin.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that preparations for the call are underway.
“The conversation is being prepared,” Peskov said on Saturday, without giving more details.
Recently, some countries, including the U.S. and Ukraine’s allies in Europe, asked Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire. But President Putin refused and instead suggested peace talks in Turkey.
Trump also encouraged Zelensky to accept the talks. Zelensky said he would attend only if Putin came too.
Putin did not attend, and the Russian team that showed up was considered “low-level” by Ukraine. Despite this, Ukraine still sent a team, and the talks led to the prisoner exchange agreement.
Speaking to reporters while traveling in the Middle East, Trump said he didn’t expect Putin to go to Turkey if Trump wasn’t there.
“He was gonna go, but he thought I was gonna go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there,” Trump said aboard Air Force One.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about ending the war. Rubio stressed America’s strong support for peace and mentioned the U.S.-led plan for ending the conflict.
“The U.S. has presented a strong peace plan, and we welcome the prisoner exchange agreement reached in Istanbul,” Rubio posted on X.
“The time for ending this war is now.”
Trump told Fox News that he believes both he and Putin want to end the war.
“He’s not looking good, and he wants to look good,” Trump said. “Don’t forget, this was supposed to end in one week.”
Trump ended his statement by saying he hopes Monday’s phone call will lead to a ceasefire and the beginning of peace.
“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,” he wrote.
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