During an over two-hour call, US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed that the war in Ukraine “needs to end with a lasting peace”, the White House said on Tuesday.
Reaffirming that the two countries will move closer under the Trump administration, the two leaders “also stressed the need for improved bilateral relations” between the United States and Russia.
“The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people. This conflict should never have started and should have been ended long ago with sincere and good faith peace efforts,” a White House readout said.
Readout of President Donald J. Trump’s Call with President Vladimir Putin:
Today, President Trump and President Putin spoke about the need for peace and a ceasefire in the Ukraine war. Both leaders agreed this conflict needs to end with a lasting peace. They also stressed the…
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 18, 2025
Outlining the contours of a possible pause in the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump and Putin agreed that “the movement to peace” will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire as well as technical negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, “full ceasefire and permanent peace”. These negotiations, the White House said, will begin immediately in the Middle East.
The White House said the leaders also spoke about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts and “shared the view” that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel. The need to stop the proliferation of strategic weapons was also discussed.
On the ties between the United States and Russia, Trump and Putin agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship has “huge upside”. This, the readout said, includes “enormous economic deals” and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.
Putin’s Condition
In its statement, the Kremlin said Putin “expressed gratitude to Donald Trump for his desire to help achieve the noble goal of ending hostilities and human losses”. For movement towards peace, Putin, however, laid down a key condition: stopping foreign military aid and the sharing of intel with Ukraine.
“It was emphasised that the key condition for preventing the escalation of the conflict and working towards its resolution through political and diplomatic means should be the complete cessation of foreign military aid and the provision of intelligence information to Kyiv,” the Kremlin said.
The statement said Trump proposed that Russia and Ukraine mutually refrain from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days, to which Putin “responded positively” and gave the order to the Russian military.
Another key development was the announcement that an exchange of 175 prisoners each will be carried out between the Russian and Ukrainian sides on Wednesday. “As a gesture of goodwill”, 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian servicemen who are being treated in Russian medical institutions will also be transferred.
While the Kremlin statement also spoke about the Middle East and the Red Sea region, it did not specifically mention Israel or Iran.
‘Expect Unconditional Agreement’
The call came amid concerns in Kyiv and several countries in Europe that Trump would give too many concessions to the Russian president. “It is time for Russia to show whether it really wants peace. Ukraine supported the US proposal for a temporary ceasefire for 30 days. We expect the Russian side to unconditionally agree to this proposal,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said ahead of the talks.
Putin gave a hardline speech ahead of the call, saying the West would try to undermine Russia even if the sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine were lifted. He also mocked the G7 – a group from which Russia was expelled in 2018 – saying it was too small to “see on a map”, news agency AFP reported.
