On May 19, Vladimir Putin spoke on the telephone for two hours with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump. Immediately afterward, the Russian president addressed journalists to summarize the conversation, describing it as “candid” and “useful.” Meduza translates Putin’s full remarks into English.

Update: In a post on social media, Donald Trump said his call with Putin “went very well” and emphasized the prospect of “largescale TRADE” between the U.S. and Russia “when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over.” Trump suggested that ending the war relies on bilateral Russia–Ukraine talks “because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.” The U.S. president also said he hopes Pope Leo XIV might host future negotiations at the Vatican.

Zelensky comments

• Zelensky rules out ceasefire if Russia insists on Ukrainian retreat from occupied regions

Good evening. My colleagues asked me to say a few words about the outcome of our phone conversation with the president of the United States. This conversation did, in fact, take place and lasted more than two hours. I would like to emphasize that it was a very substantive and quite candid discussion, and overall, in my view, very useful in this regard.

First and foremost, I thanked the U.S. president for the support of the U.S. in resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on the possible conclusion of a peace agreement, as well as for the resumption of talks that, as is well known, were broken off by the Ukrainian side in 2022.

The U.S. president expressed his position regarding a cessation of hostilities and a ceasefire, and also acknowledged that Russia likewise favors a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. We simply need to identify the most effective paths toward peace.

We agreed with the U.S. president that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum concerning a possible future peace treaty. This would outline several provisions, including a framework for resolution, the timeline for potentially concluding a peace agreement, and other relevant details, such as the possibility of a temporary ceasefire if corresponding agreements are reached.

Incidentally, contacts between participants at the Istanbul meeting and negotiations have resumed, which gives us reason to believe we’re largely moving in the right direction.

Once again, I want to stress that it was a very constructive exchange, and I consider it to have been very valuable. Of course, the real question is whether the Russian and Ukrainian sides can demonstrate a strong commitment to peace and find compromises that are acceptable to all parties.

At the same time, I want to emphasize that, overall, Russia’s position is clear: our main objective is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis. If further clarification is needed, I apologize — [my press secretary,] Mr. [Dmitry] Peskov, and my aide, Mr. [Yuri] Ushakov, will go over the details of our phone conversation with President Trump a bit later.

Cover photo: Getty Images