In a significant diplomatic development, US President Donald Trump announced that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to initiate negotiations aimed at ending the ongoing war in Ukraine. This decision follows a lengthy phone call between the two leaders as per Trump.
As per reports, the telephonic conversation between the two leaders also touched upon various global issues, including the Middle East, energy security, artificial intelligence, and currency dynamics. Both leaders expressed a mutual commitment to work closely together to address these challenges.
Trump on his conversation with Putin
Disclosing his conversation about his talks with his Russian counterpart, Trump said they would “work together, very closely.” The call followed a prisoner swap that resulted in Russia releasing American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention.
Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, is being freed as part of a swap that saw Moscow’s release of Fogel, two US officials confirmed Wednesday. he officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the swap.
US Vice President to attend Munich Security Conference
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, retired General Keith Kellogg, will all be travelling later this week to the Munich Security Conference, where the situation in Ukraine will be a major topic of discussion.
Kellogg told the media that he and the others would be talking to European officials about the very broad outlines of what Trump would like to see and gauging their interest. “We will deliver our expectation to the allies. When we come back from Munich — we want to deliver to the president the options, so when he does get (directly) involved in the peace process, he knows what it will look like for him,” Kellogg added.
(With AP inputs)
