2025-12-28 18:44
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2025-12-28 18:44
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had a “good and very productive” telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The conversation took place just before Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I just had a good and very productive phone conversation with Russian President Putin before my meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky, which will take place today at 1 p.m. (7 p.m. in Poland-PAP),” wrote Donald Trump on his Truth Social website. He announced that the meeting with Zelensky would take place in the main dining room of his Mar-a-Lago villa in Florida and that it would be attended by the press.
The president did not provide any details of the conversation. The fact of the conversation was confirmed by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but also did not comment on its content. The content of the conversation will be reported by Putin's chief adviser on foreign affairs, Yuri Ushakov.
This is the second time in a row that Trump has spoken to Putin just before meeting with Zelensky. The result of the previous conversation, conducted before Zelensky's visit to the White House, was Trump's departure from the threat to transfer Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine. Trump later said he asked Putin – literally – “if it would bother him if he gave Tomahawks to Ukraine.”
“He didn't like the idea,” Trump recalled ironically.
According to transcripts of conversations between Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff and Ushakov, published by Bloomberg, this conversation was suggested by Witkoff himself, advising Ushakov on how Putin should approach the American president.
This time, the conversation takes place just before a meeting regarding a possible agreement to end the war in Ukraine. On Saturday – just after one of the largest Russian air attacks on Ukrainian cities – Putin publicly claimed that Ukraine showed no desire to end the conflict. He threatened that if Kiev does not agree to a peaceful solution, Russia will achieve its goals “by armed means.”
Before the meeting, Zelensky questioned whether Putin would accept Trump's peace plan, although he also argued that “a lot can be agreed upon” before the end of the year. He also noted that 90 percent the issues are already decided. On Sunday, the President of Ukraine also held a conversation with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and on Saturday he talked with the leaders of European countries, including the Prime Minister of Poland. A similar connection is expected during his meeting with Trump.
Conversation initiated by the US President
The leaders of Russia and the US, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, had a telephone conversation on Sunday at the initiative of the American president before his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, said Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign policy adviser, quoted by Reuters.
According to him, the conversation lasted an hour and 15 minutes and was held in a “friendly tone.” The adviser to the Russian leader added that Trump and Putin will hold another telephone conversation after their meeting with Zelensky.
As Ushakov noted, the leaders do not support European-Ukrainian efforts for a temporary ceasefire before a permanent end to the Russian-Ukrainian war.
“The most important thing is that the presidents of Russia and the United States share the view that the option of a temporary ceasefire proposed by Ukrainians and Europeans under the pretext of preparations for the referendum or under other pretexts only leads to a prolongation of the conflict and is associated with a renewed outbreak of hostilities,” Ushakov said, as quoted by Reuters.
He emphasized that to end hostilities, Kiev must make a “bold decision” in line with Russian-American arrangements regarding Donbas. “Considering the current situation on the fronts, it would make sense for the Ukrainian authorities to make a decision regarding Donbas,” Putin's adviser said.
Commenting earlier on the conversation with Putin, Trump admitted it was “good and very productive”
At the meeting between the US president and the president of Ukraine at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, the leaders are expected to discuss a peace agreement to end the war in Ukraine, including: territorial issues and security guarantees.
The Interfax-Ukraine agency reported that the presidents of Ukraine and the USA will also hold a joint conversation with European leaders. On Saturday, Zelensky held a conversation with the leaders of major European countries, Canada, the EU and NATO, while he was in Canada, and Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland Donald Tusk was also among the participants. (PAP)
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From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
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