The declaration is a break from Biden administration’s policy of not discussing Ukraine without the Ukrainian government’s presence. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he and Russian president Vladimir Putin had spoken and agreed to “immediately” open negotiations on how to end the war on Ukraine which Putin launched with an unprovoked invasion nearly three years ago. In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump said he’d had “a lengthy and highly productive phone call” with the Russian leader, during which they discussed “Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects.”.
Trump said both he and Putin — who ordered the invasion of Ukraine and claimed it was an effort to rid the former Soviet satellite of so-called “Nazis” in its western-aligned government — “want to stop the millions of deaths taking place” as a result of the war Putin started. He also said he and the Russian leader had “agreed to work together, very closely” and to host each other for official visits. He added that he and Putin both agreed to “have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” on talks to end the war and said he would be informing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the development in a separate call.
The president continued by announcing that the U.S. negotiating team for the yet-to-be commenced talks will consist of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, and Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff. Trump’s surprise announcement came on the same day that his defense secretary announced an end to longstanding U.S. policy supporting eventual Ukrainian membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Speaking at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Hegseth said American troops would not be involved in any post-war effort to guarantee Ukrainian security because that responsibility should fall to Europe alone. “The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement,” he said before adding that any security guarantees for Kyiv “must be backed by capable European and non-European troops” but none from the U.S.
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