U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will hold a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of ending the war in Ukraine, following diplomatic talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Moscow over the weekend.
“I’ll be speaking with President Putin on Tuesday. A lot of work was done over the weekend,” Trump told Reuters reporters aboard Air Force One during his return flight to Washington from Florida, where he spent the past few days.
The U.S. is currently attempting to gain Russian support for a 30-day ceasefire proposal that Ukraine accepted last week. Despite ongoing hostilities—including continued air strikes and Russian advances near the Kursk region—Trump expressed cautious optimism.
“We want to see if we can end this war. Maybe we can, maybe we can’t, but I think we have a very good chance,” he said.
When asked about the potential terms under discussion, Trump said the two leaders would talk about “territory” and “power plants,” referring to key Ukrainian assets, including nuclear infrastructure.
“I think we already have a lot of it discussed very extensively by both sides, Ukraine and Russia,” Trump said. “We’re already talking about that—the division of certain assets.”
Trump did not provide specifics on which territories or power facilities were being considered in the talks.
However, earlier remarks by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff pointed to strategic concerns, including Black Sea ports and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has remained under Russian control since 2022.
Backchannel Diplomacy Intensifies
The announcement follows Witkoff’s return from Moscow, where he met with Russian officials over the weekend. On Sunday, the envoy said the discussions were “positive” and suggested that a Trump-Putin conversation was imminent.
The talks come as the U.S. resumes military assistance and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, while also working toward a temporary halt in combat.
