Trump and Putin agree to visit each other's nations; to discuss ending Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump said he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday about starting negotiations immediately to end the war in Ukraine.

"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskiy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now," Trump said in a post on his social media platform.

The Kremlin said Putin and Trump had spoken for nearly an hour and a half by telephone and that the two men had agreed to meet.


Trump has long said he would quickly end the war in Ukraine, without saying how he would accomplish this.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump's Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the U.S. administration did not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.

Speaking at a meeting of Ukraine's military allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, Hegseth delivered the clearest and bluntest public statement so far on the new U.S. administration's approach to the nearly three-year-old war.

"We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine. But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective," Hegseth told a meeting of Ukraine and more than 40 allies at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

"Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering."

(With agency inputs)