Results of Trump-Putin telephone conversations

Following today's telephone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the following was announced, according to the BBC:

The Kremlin has announced that Putin supports a 30-day ceasefire on energy infrastructure and the start of talks on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea. An exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine has been agreed upon for March 19. Russia will hand over 175 prisoners of war, as well as 23 seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers who are being treated in Russia. In addition, Russia demands that Ukraine not mobilize or rearm during the 30-day break.

The White House commented that the “movement toward peace” began with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as negotiations to implement a naval ceasefire in the Black Sea. It also spoke of the need to improve relations between America and Russia. It also discussed the need to “stop the spread of strategic weapons,” and stated that the Russian commander-in-chief “shared the view that Iran should never be able to destroy Israel.”

The telephone talks took place after the Russian President's statement on March 13 that he agreed with the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine, but that there remained "nuances" about the nature of the truce, since he had set a number of complex conditions for peace.

On March 13, the United States and Ukraine reached agreements at talks in Saudi Arabia on a proposed 30-day ceasefire in the war between the defending and attacking sides.

These events were also preceded by an unsuccessful meeting on February 28, 2025, between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, dedicated to a deal on the extraction of rare earth metals in Ukraine, a conversation about the suspension of military actions in the war. However, the negotiations, according to CNN, were shocking.

In continuation of the war and occupation actions from 2014, the Russian Federation fully invaded the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This war has become the largest in Europe since World War II, and has already claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians on both sides. The forced migration of the population from the territory of Ukraine amounted to more than 8 million people as of 2023.

The war was preceded by the Russian Federation's ultimatum to the "West" and NATO on December 17, 2021, which consisted of banning former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, from joining the NATO alliance, as well as the return of NATO weapons already deployed and being deployed in Central and Eastern Europe.

In 2014, during the regime change in Ukraine to a pro-Western government as a result of the “Revolution of Dignity”, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and also provided weapons and soldiers to the pro-Russian separatist movement in the Donbas region of Ukraine, which began a war with the Ukrainian military.