Updated February 12, 2025 at 15:07 PM ET
President Trump says he spoke with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in separate phone calls Wednesday, in an effort to begin negotiations toward ending the two countries' war.
"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's Nations," and to start negotiations on the war immediately, Trump said of his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a social media post.
He then followed with a post saying his conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "went very well" and that Zelenskyy "wants to make PEACE."
The Russian and Ukrainian governments, in individual statements afterward, each confirmed the calls with Trump and agreed to negotiate.
Zelenskyy said he had a "very substantive" and detailed conversation with Trump. "We believe that America's strength is enough to push Russia and Putin to peace together with us, together with all our partners," he said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin and Trump's call lasted an hour and a half. In addition to the war in Ukraine, he said they discussed a prisoner exchange. On Tuesday, Russia released U.S. teacher Marc Fogel, and the U.S. is set to release Russian national Alexander Vinnik as part of the deal, according to a Trump administration official who spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
Defense Secretary Hegseth on the administration's vision
The conversations came as Trump's new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, laid out the administration's ideas about European defense and the future of Ukraine in a meeting in Brussels.
While the United States remains committed to NATO and defending partners in Europe, he said, "the United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependency. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security."
Hegseth went further to detail the administration's positions on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which later this month will hit the three-year mark. He was speaking to Ukraine's backers gathered for a meeting at NATO headquarters.
"We must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth said, referring to the year Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
"The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," he said.
Both statements could dash hopes in Ukraine, which has fought a costly war to defend and regain its territory, and has pushed to join NATO.
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He said Trump "intends to end this war by diplomacy and bringing both Russia and Ukraine to the table."
European leaders will watch for more detailed pronouncements on U.S. foreign policy as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials attend the Munich Security Conference later this week.
This is a developing story that may be updated.
Danielle Kurtzleben contributed reporting from Washington, D.C., Teri Schultz from Brussels, Joanna Kakissis from Kyiv, Ukraine, Charles Maynes from Moscow and Willem Marx from London.
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