Trump: I Have Discussed Ending the Ukraine War with Putin

Donald Trump confirmed that he has had phone conversations with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, regarding ending the war in Ukraine. He stated that he prefers not to specify whether he has spoken once or multiple times, nor did he mention specific dates of the conversations. He told the New York Post that there is a specific plan to end the war, but he did not provide further details. The last time a U.S. president spoke with a Russian counterpart was three years ago, shortly before Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, when Joe Biden spoke with the Russian leader; however, Putin attacked Ukraine afterward. Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, said on Sunday, February 21, that he neither confirms nor denies the phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Over the past three years, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that if he had remained in power, Russia would never have attacked Ukraine. He also promised during his election campaign that if he won, he would end the Russia-Ukraine war in one day. Last week, Trump spoke of 'great progress' in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine and stated regarding the possibility of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian officials: 'They want to meet, people are dying every day, young and beautiful soldiers are being killed, young men like my sons are being killed on both sides of the battlefield... The war is very bad for Ukraine. I want to end this damn war.' He expressed hope that a ceasefire would happen 'sooner' in reference to the third anniversary of Russia's attack on Ukraine, which is two weeks away. He also mentioned that he is likely to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, next week. According to reports, Trump's position, which apparently indicates an attempt to convince Ukraine to concede part of its occupied territory to Russia, has raised serious concerns in Ukraine. In the first year of the war, Russia gained control over large parts of four provinces: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia, and in recent months, despite hundreds of billions of dollars in weapons and advanced fighter jets provided to Ukraine by the West, it has increased its advances.