Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – United States President Donald Trump announced that he would hold direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday (5/19/2025), following the latest peaceful negotiations held in Turkey last Friday.
The meeting marked the first direct conversation between the two parties since March 2022, but was again overshadowed by tensions after Russia filed a new demand.
In a statement on the Truth Social platform, Trump said that he would contact Putin at 10:00 local time, with the main agenda to stop the bloodshed that claimed to have killed more than 5,000 Russian and Ukrainian troops every week. He also called “trade” as an additional topic of discussion.
“The topic of this call will include stopping bloodshed which kills an average of more than 5,000 Russian and Ukraine troops every week, as well as trade,” Trump wrote, as quoted Reuters.
“Hopefully that day was productive, a ceasefire achieved, and this very cruel war, a war that should never have happened, will end.”
After the conversation with Putin, Trump plans to contact Zelensky and a number of NATO members to discuss the next step.
According to a senior Ukrainian official involved in negotiations, the Russian delegation who attended the talks in Istanbul demanded that Ukraine withdraw all of his troops from the Donetsk, LuhanSK, Zaporizhzhia, and Kheerson-all regions claimed by Moscow-Secretariat of the Gedeper Agreement could be discussed further.
Kremlin has not commented directly on these demands. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov only said that the conversation should be carried out in a closed manner and said that the next step would be focused on the exchanging of 1,000 war prisoners from each party, even though there was no specified date.
Peskov also opened the possibility that Putin could meet directly with Zelensky if the “certain agreement” was successfully achieved, even though he did not explain in detail the form of agreement in question.
Meanwhile, Putin has not responded to the direct challenge from Zelensky at the beginning of last week to hold a face -to -face meeting.
In a separate diplomatic effort, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephone conversation with US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov welcomed the “positive role” of the US in facilitating the start of the Russian-Ukraine dialogue.
Rubio says to CBS that Lavrov and his team are “drafting a series of ideas and demands to continue the ceasefire and further negotiations.”
Rubio also mentioned the possibility of the use of the Vatican as a neutral location for the next conversation, calling it “very generous offer.”
At the same time, Zelensky called for harder sanctions against Russia after the Russian drone attack in the Sumy region killed nine civilian bus passengers.
“This is a deliberate murder of civilians,” said Zelensky. “Pressure must be given to Russia so that they stop this murder. Without more strict sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek serious diplomacy.”
Russia has denied having attacked civilians and stated that the attack targeted military facilities. The Russian Ministry of Defense also claims to have won an additional settlement in the eastern region of Ukraine.
In the midst of a deadly peace negotiations, a number of Western leaders doubted the seriousness of Moscow. British Foreign Minister David Lammy told Reuters, “Once again, Russia is not serious. Until when will we continue to say enough to Putin?”
French President Emmanuel Macron also voiced his disappointment. “Today, what do we get from the Istanbul meeting? Nothing. And I say, facing the cynicism of President Putin, I’m sure President Trump will respond by considering the credibility of the United States.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the European Union was preparing a new sanction package against Russia, which according to France’s statement was aimed at “strangling” Moscow’s economy. However, after more than three years of imposing sanctions, many parties doubt the effectiveness of additional economic pressure.
Meanwhile, Trump’s steps in efforts to reconcile both parties often cause mixed effects. Last week, he stated that there would be no progress of peace before he himself met Putin directly, even though he had previously encouraged Zelensky to accept the negotiations of Moscow.
Kremlin said Putin was ready to meet Trump, but stated that such a meeting must be “prepared very carefully.”
(luc/luc)
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