Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are said to be in preliminary peace talks brokered by the United States.
Both have expressed a desire for peace in separate phone calls with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, February 12.
Peace Talks: Ukraine to forgo joining NATO and concede land to Russia
Trump has ordered top U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine. The news comes after it was announced that Ukraine would have to concede some land already taken by Russian forces, as indicated by the US defence secretary, as well as any hopes of entering NATO.
After a more than one-hour phone conversation from the Oval Office, Trump said that the Russian leader wanted to end the war soon and that, ‘He wants it to end. He doesn’t want to end it and then go back to fighting six months later,’ according to the president.
Trump has long boasted that he would quickly end the war in Ukraine. This first step forward towards a peace settlement since 2022 will have Trump and Putin meeting face to face, probably at a venue in Saudi Arabia.
European Commission demands involvement in Russia-Ukraine peace talks
Following the call with Putin, Trump is said to have called Zelenskyy for another hour-long conversation. ‘I had a meaningful conversation with @POTUS. We talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together, and Ukraine’s technological capabilities, including drones and other advanced industries,’ Zelenskyy wrote on X.
These will be the first peace talks since the early days of the conflict. The previous Biden administration sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine, and no contact was made between Biden and his Russian counterpart.
Currently the European Commission is demanding that they have a seat at the table in any upcoming talks, but there has been no word from the White House yet as to whether this will happen.
NATO defence ministers meet this Thursday, 13, in Brussels to formally start a debate on increasing military spending after NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned that the new investment commitment in defence will exceed 3 percent of GDP and the United States insists on reaching 5 percent.
