Putin May Call Zelenskyy
The last time Zelenskyy called Putin was in 2020. According to a source from Fox News, Trump's efforts may lead to another call between the two, which would be a major diplomatic victory for the current US president.
According to a source familiar with the discussion process quoted by Fox News, the negotiations between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy may lead to the latter's first phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin in more than five years.
The source told the TV station that facilitating a direct phone call between Zelenskyy and Putin would be a "diplomatic victory" for Trump.
The last time Putin and Zelenskyy spoke on the phone was on July 26, 2020. According to a statement from the Kremlin at the time, the call was initiated by Ukraine, and the two leaders "detailed discussions on various aspects of resolving the internal crisis in Ukraine." The two had previously spoken in July 2019, which was their first phone call.
The source also said that Zelenskyy was likely to feel uneasy before traveling to Mar-a-Lago in Florida to meet with Trump.
"Zelenskyy is usually very nervous before such conversations with the President of the United States. He will focus for a long time and study the materials prepared by the Department of International Policy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for him," the Fox News source revealed.
Zelenskyy has met with Trump for the third time. Before this meeting, the US president had already called Putin. The conversation lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes, and Trump called it "good and very productive." Two sources from the Financial Times had said that the phone call between Trump and Putin before the "Mar-a-Lago" meeting worried Kyiv.
Russian presidential assistant Yuri Ushakov said both sides showed mutual interest in achieving a long-term solution to the conflict in Ukraine. Trump said he intended to take this into account when arranging the talks with Zelenskyy. The presidents of Russia and the US agreed to have another call after Trump's meeting with Zelenskyy.
Trump called the meeting with Zelenskyy "very good." He said, "We discussed - someone might say about 95% of the content - I'm not sure of the exact percentage, but we made great progress in ending the war." According to him, the issue of Donbas has not been resolved yet, but it is approaching resolution. Trump speculated that Ukraine may need to approve a peace plan through parliament or a referendum. Ursula von der Leyen, chair of the European Commission, also confirmed the progress made in the negotiations.
Ushakov had said that the presidents of Russia and the US held the same position, believing that the ceasefire plans proposed by Ukraine and Europe under the pretext of a referendum would only delay the conflict. He emphasized that to achieve a final ceasefire, Kyiv should "urgently" make "responsible political decisions regarding Donbas, but they must take into account the actual situation on the front lines."
Original: toutiao.com/article/1852833747346432/
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