Donald Trump says he and Russian leader Putin have agreed to begin ‘negotiations’ on ending Ukraine war

US President Donald Trump and Putin agree to negotiate ending Ukraine war, following prisoner swap, aiming to stop conflict.

President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a phone call Wednesday to begin “negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war and would “work together, very closely” toward winding down the conflict.

“We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Trump said in a social media post disclosing details about a call that followed a prisoner swap between the two nations. "But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.

The Republican president said the leaders also “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” and would be alerting Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy about their conversation.

White House officials declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the U.S. negotiations with Russia.

The call came on the heels of a prisoner swap in which Russia released American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention on drug charges. Alexander Vinnik, a convicted Russian criminal, is being freed as part of the swap that saw Moscow’s release of Fogel, according to people familiar with the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic details.

Vinnik was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport to return to Russia, the officials said.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia.