The U.S. and Russia agreed to a prisoner swap involving Marc Fogel, an American schoolteacher who the Biden administration had deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, in a diplomatic move that the White House said could move forward negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Following the prisoner exchange, Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a long phone call and agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.
Soon after, President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to begin working toward winding down the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine was the main focus of the call, during which Putin emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks.
While not yet publicly announced, Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, was being freed in exchange for the release of Fogel, according to people familiar with the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.
