President Trump said he will speak with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday in an attempt to secure a cease-fire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a cease-fire will take place, and this very violent war — a war that should have never happened — will end,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday. The Kremlin confirmed that the leaders would speak.
Mr. Trump said he would also call President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has agreed to an unconditional and immediate cease-fire, as well as leaders of the NATO alliance.
Their conversations will take place as Russia intensifies its attacks in Ukraine, including a drone strike on Saturday against a civilian bus that killed at least nine people, according to local residents and Ukrainian authorities.
What are the latest developments?
Russia and Ukraine held direct peace talks in Istanbul on Friday for the first time since the early months of the war, resulting in an agreement to conduct what would be the largest prisoner swap of the conflict.
But the two sides failed to broker a temporary cease-fire or a meeting between their two leaders, demonstrating how far apart the warring parties remained on steps toward ending the conflict.
During the talks, the Russian team told the Ukrainians that, to achieve the cease-fire they are seeking, Kyiv should withdraw entirely from the four regions in east Ukraine that Moscow annexed in late 2022, according to a Turkish official familiar with the discussions. Ukraine still controls vast swaths of that land, including two regional capitals.
Such demands — which Russian officials also made during meetings with American negotiators this year — called into question whether Mr. Putin is actually prepared to end the war.
What’s at stake?
The stakes could not be higher in the largest land war in Europe since World War II, which began after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Mr. Zelensky wants an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, followed by negotiations over a potential peace deal. But Mr. Putin, who appears confident of Russia’s upper hand on the battlefield, is refusing to stop fighting before he secures major concessions from Kyiv and the West.
The United States was “open to virtually any mechanism” that could engender a lasting peace, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding, “We remain committed to that.”
Mr. Putin also wants to keep the attention of President Trump, who is promising a new era of warm ties between Moscow and Washington, and to convince the White House that he isn’t stonewalling the peace in Ukraine that Mr. Trump promised as a presidential candidate.
But the Russian leader is also still seeking Ukraine’s capitulation, both on the battlefield and in negotiations, after more than three years of full-scale war that has come to define his rule.
What is Russia’s position?
When Mr. Putin and other Russian leaders talk about ending the war, they focus on what they call the “root causes” of the conflict — Kremlin shorthand for a range of issues including the existence of Ukraine as a fully independent and sovereign nation aligned with the West.
Specifically, the Kremlin says it wants control over five Ukrainian territories, including large areas of land it has failed to seize despite the years of war. Mr. Putin has also demanded that Ukraine agree to strict limitations on its military, and to not join NATO. He has also demanded a suspension of all Western military assistance to Ukraine before a cease-fire begins.
From the start, the Istanbul negotiations were not expected to yield any huge breakthroughs. But the meeting was a tactical win for Mr. Putin, who managed to start the talks without first agreeing to a battlefield cease-fire that Ukraine and almost all of its Western backers had sought as a precondition for negotiations.
What is Ukraine’s position?
With Russia holding the initiative on the front for more than 16 months, many Ukrainians have concluded that they are unlikely to drive the Russians off their lands militarily. And so Ukraine wants to freeze the fighting where it is and then make a case that any formal recognition of Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian lands violate basic tenets of international law and set a dangerous precedent.
Mr. Zelensky wants an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, followed by negotiations over a potential peace deal. Ukraine has also said it will not accept any limitations on its military. Its European allies have vowed to continue to work to strengthen Ukraine after any truce to ensure Russia is not tempted to attack again. There are many other complicated issues at play, among them the return of thousands of Ukrainian children taken from their families to Russia.
Safak Timur, Maria Varenikova and Liubov Sholudko contributed reporting.
Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Andrew E. Kramer is the Kyiv bureau chief for The Times, who has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.
Marc Santora has been reporting from Ukraine since the beginning of the war with Russia. He was previously based in London as an international news editor focused on breaking news events and earlier the bureau chief for East and Central Europe, based in Warsaw. He has also reported extensively from Iraq and Africa.
Paul Sonne is an international correspondent, focusing on Russia and the varied impacts of President Vladimir V. Putin’s domestic and foreign policies, with a focus on the war against Ukraine.
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