Trump and Putin to hold a call on Russia, Ukraine cease-fire but Zelensky is skeptical

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is to hold talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he looks to get buy-in on a U.S.cease-fire proposal he hopes can create a pathway to ending Russia’s devastating war on Ukraine.The engagement is just the latest turn in dramatically shifting U.S.-Russia relations as Trump made quickly ending the conflict a top priority — even at the expense of straining ties with longtime American allies who want Putin to pay a price for the invasion.“It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine,” Trump told reporters on Monday.

“What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a cease-fire and peace.And I think we’ll be able to do it.”In preparation for the Trump-Putin call, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met last week with Putin in Moscow to discuss the proposal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio had persuaded senior Ukrainian officials during talks in Saudi Arabia to agree to the cease-fire framework.The U.S.president said Washington and Moscow have already begun discussing “dividing up certain assets” between Ukraine and Russia as part of a deal to end the conflict.Trump, who during his campaign pledged to quickly end the war, has at moments boasted of his relationship with Putin and blamed Ukraine for Russia’s unprovoked invasion, all while accusing Zelenskyy of unnecessarily prolonging the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday that Trump and Putin will discuss the war in Ukraine but added that there are also a “large number of questions” regarding normalizing U.S.-Russia relations.

The call will take place between 1 p.m.GMT and 3 p.m.

GMT (9 a.m.ET to 11 a.m.

ET), Peskov said.Trump has said that control of land and power plants will be part of the conversation, which comes on the anniversary of Russia annexing Ukraine’s Crime...