WASHINGTON - Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine would "immediately" start peace talks after he spoke with Vladimir Putin on Monday, despite the Russian leader rebuffing the US president's call for an unconditional truce.
Trump framed the two-hour conversation as a breakthrough as the Republican seeks an elusive deal to end the conflict that he promised on the campaign trail to solve within 24 hours.
But Putin struck a more reserved tone, saying he was ready to work with Kyiv on a memorandum towards ending the war Moscow launched in February 2022 but insisting on compromises on both sides.
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, who has patched up relations with the US president after a blazing row in the Oval Office, urged Trump in a separate call not to make any decisions "without us."
Trump has pinned his hopes on ending the conflict on a personal bond with Putin, even as he shows growing frustration with the Kremlin leader's refusal to do a deal.
"I believe it went very well," Trump said on his Truth Social network after Monday's Putin call.
"Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a Ceasefire and, more importantly, an END to the War."
Trump later said he thought Putin was ready for a ceasefire.
"I believe he wants to stop," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "If I thought President Putin didn't want to get this over with, I wouldn't even be talking about it."
Trump recently called for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Kyiv agreed, but Putin has so far held off on any such truce, sparking criticism from Western countries.
Putin was more circumspect about the Trump call, even as he appeared to give one of the most concrete signs yet of being ready to discuss a ceasefire.
"It was very informative and very open and overall, in my opinion, very useful," Putin told Russian media after the call.
He said that Russia would "propose and will be ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace agreement defining a range of positions."
Zelensky spoke to Trump both before and after the Putin call, urging the US president to toughen sanctions against Russia if it refused a ceasefire.
"I asked him not to make any decisions about Ukraine without us before his conversation with Putin," Zelensky told reporters.
Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from parts of eastern and southern Ukraine under Kyiv's control, rejecting demands put forward by Russia for ending its invasion.