Trump says he will call Putin on Monday to discuss stopping Ukraine war

Donald Trump says he will be speaking to Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Monday about ending the war in Ukraine, saying the call at 10:00 EDT (14:00 GMT) would be about “stopping the ‘bloodbath'”.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said he would then speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and leaders of some Nato countries.

Russia and Ukraine were unable to reach any breakthrough when they held their first face-to-face talks in three years in Istanbul on Friday, although a prisoner swap was agreed.

The US president had offered to attend the talks in Turkey if Putin would also go, but his Russian counterpart did not take up the offer.

Trump’s comments come after he suggested on Thursday that progress on ending the war would only happen if he and Putin held face-to-face talks.

“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end,” Trump wrote on Saturday.

Nato leaders have been calling for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in the conflict.

Following the talks in Istanbul, Ukraine reiterated its call for a full and unconditional ceasefire.

The head of the Russian delegation, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, said the Russian delegation was satisfied with the talks and ready to continue contact.

Hours later, a Russian drone hit a passenger bus in the Sumy region, killing nine people – prompting Zelensky to demand stiffer sanctions on Moscow.

He said the attack on the bus was “a deliberate killing of civilians”. Russia has not commented, but state media reported that forces had hit a “military staging area” in Sumy province.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.