Trump, Putin to discuss Ukraine peace deal as ceasefire talks intensify

Donald Trump, the president of the United States has announced that negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war are in progress, with a planned discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

The US president made this known while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington, D.C., from Florida.

“We’re doing pretty well, I think, with Russia. We’ll see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday, I’ll be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday”

“Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance.”

Read also: Putin backs US ceasefire idea for Ukraine but says details need to be sorted out.

Asked about what concessions were under consideration in the ceasefire talks, Trump said the discussions with the Russian president would include land and power plants.

“We’ll be talking about land. A lot of land is a lot different than it was before the war, as you know. We’ll be talking about land, we’ll be talking about power plants, that’s a big question,” he added.

But I think we have a lot of it already discussed, very much, by both sides, Ukraine and Russia. We’re already talking about that – dividing up certain assets.”

Read also: US says close to cease-firee deal in Ukraine as Zelenski backs proposal.

Trump’s comments come after he announced last week that Ukraine had accepted a US-proposed 30-day ceasefire, putting the ball in Russia’s court as to whether it would accept his proposal to swiftly end the war.

The Kremlin has also confirmed that a call between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump is being prepared for Tuesday.

“Yes, that’s true. A call is being planned for Tuesday,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Peskov would not be drawn on what the two presidents would discuss specifically regarding Ukraine peace talks when asked whether they would broach questions of Ukraine territory and power plants, as mentioned by Donald Trump.

Read also: Strategic Silence of Nigeria in the Russia-Ukraine War

“We never do that,” Peskov says.

Europe questions the terms of the agreement.

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, argues this list of conditions shows that Putin is not serious about ending the war.

“Those conditions that they have presented – it shows that they don’t really want peace, actually, because they are presenting as conditions all their ultimate goals that they want to achieve from the war,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels.

As we’ve reported, Trump, who has made ending the war in Ukraine one of his top policy objectives, has said he plans to speak to Putin tomorrow.