Trump, Putin Held 'Positive Call', White House Says

President Donald Trump held a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to the White House, a day after the US leader met with his Ukrainian counterpart to discuss efforts to bring a halt to the Kremlin’s war.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday on X that the two leaders had “concluded a positive call.”

Putin told Trump that Moscow will revise its negotiating position on Ukraine following what the Kremlin described as state terrorism by Kyiv, referring to an alleged drone attack on one of the Russian leader’s residences, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said to Russian newswires, commenting on the call.

He added that Putin assured Trump that Russia intends to continue close and constructive work with US partners in seeking ways to achieve peace and that the two leaders agreed to maintain dialogue.

Trump’s call with Putin, the second in as many days, comes amid a flurry of diplomatic activity as the US president pushes to secure an end to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a conflict he had pledged to end on his first day back in office. Still, it remains unclear whether Trump is any closer to that goal.

His meeting with Zelenskiy on Sunday at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida delivered no clear breakthrough but saw Trump hail what he called “a lot of progress” toward a possible peace deal. Trump said after that meeting that he was confident a deal was “getting a lot closer” though it might take a few weeks to conclude and there was no set timeline. 

Zelenskiy said Sunday the peace plan was “90% agreed.” The US and Ukrainian presidents spoke with European leaders after their meeting.

Ukrainian officials have toiled over the last few weeks to revise a 28-point draft plan originally proposed by the US but seen as overly favorable to Russia. The latest version has 20 points, but Moscow has warned that it includes elements it won’t accept, including on the size of Ukraine’s post-war military.

Among the major sticking points left to be resolved: the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces. Russia has insisted on maximalist demands for territory, including lands that it doesn’t fully control. 

Russia also wants guarantees against future eastward expansion by the NATO military alliance and on Ukraine’s neutral status if it joins the European Union, as well as clarity on the removal of sanctions and on hundreds of billions of dollars of Moscow’s frozen state assets in the West, according to a person close to the Kremlin. 

Zelenskiy, for his part, said he asked Trump for US security guarantees lasting as long as half a century to help deter any future Russian invasion. Current proposals under discussion as part of a peace plan set out a 15-year term with the possibility for an extension.

“I would like the guarantee to be much longer,” Zelenskiy said Monday in an audio message to reporters. “We would like to consider the possibility of 30, 40, 50 years and then it will be a historic decision by Trump.”

Ukraine is seeking a meeting with European partners and Trump in January, Zelenskiy has said, followed by a separate meeting with Russian officials “in one format or another.” The Coalition of the Willing group will meet in early January to discuss its support for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X on Monday.

Trump also held what was cast as a “very productive” phone call with Putin shortly before he met with Zelenskiy on Sunday. Even as the negotiations have continued, Russia has continued to hammer Ukraine with drone and missile attacks targeting cities and energy infrastructure, looking to press its military campaign and maximize the pain felt by civilians during winter.

Putin on Monday held his seventh televised meeting with Russia’s army command since October, highlighting what he described as advances on the battlefield in Ukraine and ordering his forces to continue efforts to seize more territory. 

The purported Ukrainian attack on one of Putin’s residences was a focus of the Russian readout of the call with Trump.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Monday that Ukraine attempted to attack a presidential residence in the Novgorod region, more than 400 kilometers (249 miles) northwest of Moscow, overnight with 91 drones, adding that Russia would retaliate and that targets had already been selected. 

Zelenskiy dismissed the claim as a “new lie” and warned that Russia could be using it as a pretext to prepare an attack on government buildings in Kyiv.