President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a “very good” phone conversation.
Trump said the call lasted roughly one hour and that the two leaders spoke about the initial agreement the U.S. had made with Russian President Vladimir Putin the day before.
“Just completed a very good telephone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Much of the discussion was based on the call made yesterday with President Putin in order to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs. We are very much on track,” Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social just moments after the hour-long call wrapped.
Putin agreed Tuesday to halt attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for 30 days, but the Trump administration’s initial goal of a ceasefire did not apply to the frontlines or civilian populations.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff stated on Wednesday that he thinks a complete ceasefire can be reached in a few weeks, despite doubts expressed by Ukrainian and European leaders.
Additionally, he stated that an official meeting between Trump and Putin is “likely to happen,” given that national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be returning to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss the specifics of the agreement reached on Tuesday.
Whether a Ukrainian delegation will also be going back to Saudi Arabia to start talks with Russian counterparts is still unknown.
Putin also agreed to exchange 175 prisoners as well as the return of 23 “seriously wounded” Ukrainians as a “gesture of goodwill.”
Zelenskyy posted on X that “one of the largest POW exchanges” had occurred, accompanied by a photo of men returning from Russian captivity with Ukrainian flags draped over them, just moments after his scheduled call with Trump.
Zelenskyy confirmed that 175 soldiers and 22 “defenders” had been released.
“We are also grateful to all our partners, especially the United Arab Emirates, for making today’s exchange possible,” he added, though he did not mention U.S. efforts in the negotiations.
While Trump told Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” on Tuesday that it would have been difficult to pressure Putin further into a ceasefire, world leaders expressed their displeasure that Putin rejected the agreement Ukraine reached last week. “Russia has the advantage.”
Following the Trump-Putin call, Zelenskyy’s office did not reply to Fox News Digital’s inquiries; however, the Ukrainian president claimed in a message posted to X that “Putin effectively rejected the proposal for a full ceasefire.”
“It would be right for the world to respond by rejecting any attempts by Putin to prolong the war,” he continued, highlighting Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including a Tuesday night Shahed drone strike on a hospital in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
“Sanctions against Russia. Assistance to Ukraine. Strengthening allies in the free world and working toward security guarantees,” Zelenskyy listed as steps the Western world should take to counter Putin. “Only a real cessation of strikes on civilian infrastructure by Russia, as proof of its willingness to end this war, can bring peace closer.”
Earlier this week, GOP Rep. Tim Burchett called Trump the “right man in history” to bring peace to Russia and Ukraine.
“I have a lot of faith in President Trump. I tend to like him. I’ve told people I don’t want him teaching my daughter’s Sunday school class, but I like him running my country. You know, he’s a straight-up guy. You know, he — I hear all this talk about rough talk and threatening and he’s, he’s always been just very kind to me. And we talk about issues and he doesn’t — he always has the answer. But if he doesn’t, he gets right back to me. So, yeah, I think he gets Putin. I mean, literally, the guy deals with Teamsters on a daily basis in New York City. I think he can handle Putin and he gets it. He gets that ego and he can handle him and he is the right man in history to bring about peace, honestly,” Burchett said.
“I think it’s incredibly in sight. But what I worry about is both parties. I think Washington’s crooked as a dog’s leg, and in Washington, the money is going to come back to somewhere. You’re going to see that paper trail. And I think that’s when you’re going to see — and I told Elon Musk this and I told President Trump, I think you’ve got 100 and 150 days before members of both parties start pulling out on you, because you know, Charles, it’s going to start hitting close to home,” he added.
Burchett continued, “Elon has a paper trail and members are getting nervous. And that’s why I don’t think we’re bringing any of these great findings to the floor of the House, to the floor of the Senate. And nobody wants to, apparently, because they’re afraid it’s going to cut into their pocketbooks. And we — America better wake up and realize we’ve been given a gift. We have a chance to take our country back. $36 trillion in debt.”
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