U.S. President Donald Trump agreed in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to start negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, sweeping aside three years of U.S. policy and blindsiding European allies who feared the more conciliatory American stance amounted to a giveaway to the Russian leader.
Trump revealed the conversation — his first publicly announced contact with Putin since retaking the U.S. presidency — on social media, saying the two had a "lengthy and highly productive phone call.” He said their teams would start negotiations immediately, and later told reporters in the Oval Office that he’ll probably meet Putin in Saudi Arabia in the "not-too-distant future.”
The phone call capped a flurry of activity that underscored Trump’s intent to follow through quickly with his campaign pledges and ditch former President Joe Biden’s approach, which explicitly avoided direct U.S.-Russia contact in favor of letting Ukraine take the lead.
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