Zelenskyy, Like Putin, Wants to Make Peace: Trump After Phone Call With Ukraine President

New Delhi, India: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, like Russian President Vladimir Putin , is seeking peace, following separate conversations with both leaders about potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.  

Trump’s remarks came after a phone call with Zelenskyy, which the Ukrainian president described as “meaningful.” 

According to Zelenskyy, the two leaders discussed a framework for security and economic cooperation between their nations. “We talked at length about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine's technological capabilities,” Zelenskyy wrote on X (formerly Twitter).  

Trump, posting on Truth Social, characterized the conversation as productive and aligned with his broader efforts to broker an end to the conflict. “I just spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. The conversation went very well. He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE,” Trump wrote.  

The comments follow Trump’s recent discussions with Putin regarding a settlement to the nearly two-year-long war. His diplomatic outreach signals a shift in the US approach to the conflict. Zelenskyy is set to meet with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich on Friday, where further discussions on security and economic cooperation are expected.

Prisoner Swap In Russia 

Wednesday's Trump-Putin call and resulting policy sea change, followed a prisoner swap that resulted in Russia releasing American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention in return for convicted Russian criminal Alexander Vinnik.

“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Trump said in a social media post disclosing details about the call. "But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.

Trump said they also “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” and would be alerting Zelenskyy to their conversation. He appointed Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, national security advisor Michael Waltz, and his special Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff to lead those talks.

White House officials later declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the US negotiations with Russia.

But, they described the prisoner swap as evidence of a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, was arrested in August 2021 for possession of marijuana and was serving a 14-year prison sentence. He had been left out of previous prisoner swaps with Russia that were negotiated by the Biden administration.

Vinnik — the other person involved, according to two US officials — was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the US on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport to return to Russia, the officials said. The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia.

Trump had welcomed Fogel at the White House on Tuesday evening after his return to US soil on Witkoff's personal plane. On Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he spoke with Putin about Fogel and didn't say what the United States had provided in exchange for Fogel's release.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Fogel's release could help anchor a peace deal on Ukraine, saying: “We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that's the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war.” The Kremlin was more cautious, but it also noted that the deal could help strengthen mutual trust.

With AP inputs