Trump and Putin talk about 2 hours, but no Russia-Ukraine ceasefire: NPR

Moscow – President Trump spoke more than two hours on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as part of a flood of telephone calls to negotiate a ceasefire in the Russian war in Ukraine. Trump also had calls with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders.

Putin did not agree to an immediate ceasefire that was searched for long for Ukraine, the USA and many NATO countries. But after the call, both the Kremlin leader and Trump said that Russia and Ukraine would start talks about future peace. The government of Trump and Italy said the Vatican could do the negotiations.

Russia is ready to work together with the Ukrainian team on a memorandum via a possible future peace agreement and to define a number of positions, e.g. the principles of a settlement, the time of a possible peace agreement, “said Putin in a briefing in the southern Russian city of Soschi.

Telephone diplomacy on Monday follows rare personal direct conversations between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, where both sides said that they would exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, but could not agree to an immediate ceasefire.

Putin skipped this meeting in Turkey, even though he had demanded that it would happen in an obvious attempt to take Zelenskyy's diplomatic initiative.

Since then, Russia has maintained military pressure on Ukraine and started mass attacks all weekend, in which at least 11 people were killed. The attacks included a flood on Sunday, of which the Ukrainian authorities were the largest since the beginning of the conflict.

On Monday, Karoline Leavitt, press spokeswoman for the White House, said Zelenskyy after calling Putin.

But Zelenskyy said he spoke to Trump one to one before Trump's call with Putin and then together with the leaders of France, Italy, Germany, Finland and the European Commission.

“I asked him [Trump] Before his conversation with Putin, no decisions about Ukraine without making us, “said Zelenskyy in a news information on Monday.

Zelenskyy met with Vice President Vance and Foreign Minister Marco Rubio in Rome on Sunday and said that he had asked the government to take a hard attitude towards Moscow. On Monday, the Ukrainian leader confirmed his reputation to further push Moscow in order to agree to a ceasefire.

“If the Russians are not ready to stop the murders, there must be stronger sanctions,” said Zelenskyy in a social media contribution. “The pressure on Russia will push in real peace – this is obvious to everyone around the world.”

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who threatened further sanctions against Russia, confirmed the support of the European Union for Zelenskyy, “to achieve permanent peace in Ukraine”.

After calling with Trump, Putin said: “Russia serves a peaceful settlement in the Ukraine crisis. But we should determine the most effective way towards this peace.”

At the weekend, Putin said in a Russian television interview that Moscow is still able to achieve his military goals in Ukraine. He said that securing Ukraine territories that Russia claims to have annexed but does not fully control.

Analysts in Moscow say that the Kremlin had occurred on Monday, this time convinced that a military advantage on the side is.

“Russia can continue its military operations at this time. Sanctions cause damage, but this damage is not of crucial importance for Russia's macroeconomics,” Ivan Timofeev, head of the Russian International Affair Council, told NPR.

The Russian army continues to achieve slow but steady profits on the battlefield, he noticed: “So Ukraine can be in a less favorable negotiating position.”