President Donald Trump has expressed frustration in recent days over the state of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine — a goal he often said on the campaign trail he would achieve within a day of taking office.
Trump said last week that he believes he alone can advance the stalling peace talks, and he’s arranged a phone call to speak directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin this morning as part of that effort.
Here’s how we got here:
Talks in Turkey yield little progress: Ukraine and Russia held their first direct talks in three years last week in Turkey, but the discussions were limited in scope and lacking the presence of each country’s leader.
Putin originally pitched the meetings as a face-to-face with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he initially accepted. But neither leader ultimately attended, and Zelensky criticized his Russian counterpart for not sending a higher-level delegation.
The meetings yielded a prisoner swap and further talks about the two presidents meeting, but little appeared to substantively change on each country’s ceasefire terms.
Zelensky meeting in Rome: Zelensky said he had a “good meeting” yesterday in Italy with US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who traveled to Rome for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV.
It was the first time Zelensky and Vance sat down together since the vice president castigated the Ukrainian leader in February’s infamous Oval Office meeting.
“I confirmed Ukraine’s readiness for genuine diplomacy and stressed the importance of a complete and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible,” the Ukrainian leader said of the sitdown in Italy.
Breaking up the “logjam”: Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation” yesterday that while patience is needed, “we don’t have time to waste” in the peace effort. The secretary of state indicated Trump speaking directly with Putin should get talks moving, and warned Russia against delivering unrealistic ceasefire proposal terms.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff echoed Rubio, telling ABC’s “This Week” that Trump’s call will “clear up some of the logjam and get us to the place that we need to get to.”
