Ukraine, Trump-Putin phone call for “immediate negotiations”

WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – In a post on social media today, President Donald Trump hinted at a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the two leaders allegedly “worked together, closely.” The call came in the wake of a prisoner exchange that led Russia to free American teacher Marc Fogel of Pennsylvania after more than three years in detention.
Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, was freed as part of an exchange that saw Moscow release American Marc Fogel. The news was also confirmed by two U.S. officials. “We have also agreed that our respective teams will begin negotiations immediately and we will begin by calling Ukrainian President Zelensky to inform him of the conversation, which I will do immediately,” Trump said in a post on his Truth social media site.
Confirmation also came from the Kremlin that Putin and Trump spoke for nearly an hour and a half on the phone and that the two would agree to meet. During the election campaign Trump had repeatedly made known his intention to end the conflict, but without specifying how he would achieve this goal.
During a speech today at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s appointed Secretary of Defense, said he did not see Ukraine’s membership in NATO as a solution to the ongoing war. The new administration’s policy line is to support negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, with the latter expected to accept the ceding of territories already conquered by the Kremlin. “Returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic goal,” Hegseth said during his remarks. “We will only end this devastating war, and establish a lasting peace, by combining allied strength with a realistic assessment of the battlefield.
Hegseth’s remarks are emblematic of Trump’s radical departure from the policies of former Democratic President Joe Biden, who had focused primarily on total victory in Ukraine. Instead, the new administration’s policy includes quick fixes to end the war in a timely manner. Several Ukrainian citizens hope for Trump’s ability to end the conflict, but others fear that his negotiations will force the country to accept unfavorable terms that could embolden Russian President Putin.
-photo Ipa Agency-(ITALPRESS).