US President Donald Trump has pointed out a major shift in three years of US policy towards Kiev, saying that he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin Talk on the phone He agreed to start negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said he spent more than an hour on the phone with Putin on Wednesday, and “I think we are on our way to get peace.”

He indicated that he later spoke with Ukrainian President Folodimir Zelinsky, but he was not binding on whether Ukraine would be an equal participant in US negotiations with Russia to end the war.

“I think President Putin wants peace and President Zelinski wants peace and wants peace,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.

“People really don’t know what President Putin’s ideas are. But I think I can say with great confidence, he wants to see that he is over, so that’s good – and we will work to achieve this and the fastest possible.”

Trump said that it is “possible” to meet personally with Putin in the short term, indicating that the meeting can happen in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

He specifically asked that Ukraine be an equal member of A. Possible peace processTrump replied, “An interesting question. I think they should make peace.”

Trump’s conversation with Putin may also indicate that Washington and Moscow can work to distribute a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine by circumventing Kiev, a development that would be separated from the previous Biden administration, which steadfastly insisted that Ukraine’s leadership will be full of participant in any Decisions taken.

In his night speech to the nation, Zelinski seemed to put in a brave face that Trump informed him of his conversation with Putin and that he appreciated “the real president’s interest in our common opportunities and how we can achieve a real peace together.”

He later wrote on social media: “We believe that the power of America, along with Ukraine and all our partners, is sufficient to push Russia to peace,” he wrote later on social media.

A long and detailed conversation with President Trump was held. I appreciate his real interest in our common opportunities and how we can collect real peace together.

We discussed many aspects – Diplomatic and Military – and President Trump informed me of what … pic.twitter.com/flmigxqtbl

– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Zelenskyyua) February 12, 2025

Ukrainian NATO membership is unrealistic

Earlier, in another blow to Kiev, US Defense Secretary Beit Higseth said at the NATO headquarters in Brussels that Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO was unrealistic.

“We want, like you, Ukraine, with sovereign and prosperous. Higseth said at the NATO meeting:” We must start by realizing that returning to the borders of Ukraine before 2014 is unrealistic. “

He said: “The pursuit of this imaginary goal will not only prolong the war and cause more suffering.”

Russia included Crimea in Ukraine in 2014 and is still considered the territories occupied by Ukraine and many Western countries.

Higseth said that any solid peace should include “strong security guarantees to ensure that the war will not start again.” But he said that the American forces will not be deployed in Ukraine as part of these guarantees.

“I don’t think it is practical, personally,” Trump later said about NATO membership in Ukraine.

After Russia’s extensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration joined other NATO members in a declaration that Kiev’s membership in the Western military alliance was “inevitable.”

A spokesman for Carmelin Dmitry Peskov said that the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a great deal of land, including the Middle East and Iran, but Ukraine was the main axis.

Peskov said that Trump had called for a quick stop in hostilities and a peaceful settlement, and that “President Putin, in turn, stressed the need to remove the radical causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long -term settlement can be achieved through peace talks.”

“The Russian president supported one of the main US thesis that the time has come for our country to work together,” Peskov told reporters.

“The Russian President called on the US President to visit Moscow and expressed his willingness to host US officials in Russia for issues of mutual interests, including Ukraine, and Ukrainian settlement.”

Scott Bessin, Trump’s Treasury Secretary, was in Kiev on Wednesday in the first visit by a member of the Council of Ministers in Trump amid reports that Ukraine had offered a deal with Trump to continue US military assistance in exchange for developing the mineral industry in Ukraine.

Trump suggested that aid to Ukraine continues to flow, but the Treasury Secretary in Ukraine was working to obtain written assurances that the United States will get access to its rare ground, oil and gas elements.