US President Donald Trump has said he did not think it was practical for Ukraine to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine will get back all of its land.
Mr Trump discussed the war in Ukraine this afternoon in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the US president's first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end.
Mr Trump said he and Putin expect to meet in the future, probably in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Trump described his call with Putin as a good conversation and said it lasted over an hour. He made the remarks to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Zelensky's office said Trump and Mr Zelensky spoke by phone for about an hour, while the Kremlin said Mr Putin's call with Mr Trump lasted nearly an hour and a half.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed to meet, and that the US President was invited to visit Moscow.
There had been speculation the two leaders would meet in a third country, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seen as possible venues, according to Russian sources.
Mr Trump described the call as "lengthy and highly productive" in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying that the two leaders had even agreed to visit each other's nations to address the deep tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin separately said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and that Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed that the "time has come to work together," with a long-term solution for the Ukraine war in reach.
"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Mr Trump said, adding that they had discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, artificial intelligence and other subjects.
He said they agreed that "we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia/Ukraine" - with Trump using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the Ukraine conflict.
"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's nations," said Mr Trump.
"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine.
Mr Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war before taking office and has been pushing for a peace settlement while remaining coy until now about any possible contact with Putin.
But in a sign that Ukraine could see its fate decided by the US and Russia, Mr Trump said that "we will begin by calling President Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation".
Read more:
Russia rejects swapping occupied territory with Ukraine
Return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders 'unrealistic', says Pentagon Chief
The Ukrainian presidency later confirmed that Mr Zelensky had a phone call with Trump.
He said he had a "meaningful conversation" with Mr Trump and that the leaders discussed ways to end Russia's nearly three-year invasion of Ukraine.
"We long talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together at the team level," Mr Zelensky said on social media, adding that he was "grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can accomplish together."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
The Ukrainian President has been trying to keep on the right side of Mr Trump and maintain US support while pushing his own nation's demands for peace with Russia.
No peace talks have been held since the early months of the war, now approaching its third anniversary.
'Stopping hostilities'
There had been earlier signs of a thaw this week with a prisoner swap deal that saw Russia free American teacher Marc Fogel while the US released Russian cryptocurrency kingpin Alexander Vinnik.
Mr Trump heaped praise on the Russian president in his Truth Social post, saying that Mr Putin "even used my very strong campaign motto of, 'common sense.'"
The Kremlin's statement was more measured, saying that Mr Putin "agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be reached through peace negotiations".
"President Trump spoke in favour of stopping hostilities as soon as possible and solving the problem by peaceful means," Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in his readout of the call.
Mr Putin stressed any settlement would need to "address the root causes of the conflict," Mr Peskov said, without elaborating.
Mr Trump said he had asked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff "to lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful".
Mr Zelensky this week floated the idea of exchanging occupied land but Russia rejected the proposal, hours after launching a fresh barrage of drones and missiles on Kyiv.
He is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where the Ukrainian leader said he hoped to finalise an economic agreement with the US.
