U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to hold phone calls Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and leaders of several NATO countries, aiming to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump said his discussion with Putin will focus on halting the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.
“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a cease-fire will take place, and this very violent war – a war that should never have happened – will end,” Trump wrote Saturday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Russian media that preparations for Monday’s call are underway.
Trump’s remarks came a day after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in years failed to yield a cease-fire. Putin spurned Zelenskyy’s offer to meet face-to-face in Türkiye after proposing direct negotiations – though not at the presidential level – as an alternative to a 30-day cease-fire urged by Ukraine and its Western allies, including the U.S.
Also Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov. During a visit to Rome, Rubio suggested the Vatican could be a venue for Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
In Ukraine, a northeastern town declared a period of mourning after a Russian drone struck a bus evacuating civilians from frontline areas, killing nine people, Ukrainian officials said. The strike came hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegations left Istanbul following what would be the largest prisoner swap to date between the warring parties.
The Istanbul talks on Friday ended after less than two hours without a cease-fire, although both sides agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war each, according to the heads of both delegations. Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said Saturday on Ukrainian television the exchange could happen as early as next week.
But the Kremlin pushed back against a proposal by Ukraine and its Western allies for a temporary cease-fire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement, and the parties remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.
Since U.S.-brokered talks began in March, Ukraine’s strategy has been to convince the Trump administration that Putin is unreliable and that Kyiv is serious about peace. Trump has expressed frustration with the stalled talks and threatened to abandon his efforts if results aren’t achieved.
The political theatrics are underscored by stark realities on the ground in Ukraine. In a war of attrition against Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s position is poised to grow weaker over time unless powerful sanctions are imposed against Moscow and the U.S. continues arms deliveries.
Zelenskyy said he discussed the outcome of the talks with Trump and the leaders of France, Germany, Britain and Poland. In an X post from a European leadership meeting in Albania on Friday, Zelenskyy urged “tough sanctions” against Moscow if it rejects “a full and unconditional cease-fire and an end to killings.”
Peskov on Saturday held open the possibility of Putin holding talks with Zelenskyy, provided the agreed prisoner swap goes ahead and the Russian and Ukrainian delegations reach unspecified further “agreements.”
Peskov also told reporters that Moscow will present Ukraine with a list of conditions for a cease-fire but gave no timeframe or details on what needs to happen before Zelenskyy and Putin can meet.
In Ukraine, nine civilians were killed and seven others wounded when a Russian drone struck a bus evacuating people from Bilopillia, a town about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Russia’s border, according to local Gov. Oleh Hryhorov and Ukraine’s national police. The Associated Press could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Zelenskyy described the attack as a “deliberate killing of civilians,” adding in a post on the Telegram messaging app that “Russians could scarcely not realize what kind of vehicle they were hitting.”
Local media outlet Suspilne said the passengers on the bus were being evacuated from the town when the strike occurred. Authorities are working to identify some of the victims, most of them older women.
Local community chief Yurii Zarko called the day “Black Saturday,” and mourning was declared in the town through Monday.
Zelenskyy lamented the missed opportunity from Friday’s peace talks, saying, “Ukraine has long proposed this – a full and unconditional cease-fire in order to save lives.”
Ukraine’s European allies strongly condemned the attack. U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “appalled” by it. “If Putin is serious about peace, Russia must agree to a full and immediate cease-fire, as Ukraine has done,” he wrote on X.
The German Foreign Office wrote on its official X account that the strike in Bilopillia was “unsurpassed in cynicism.”
“Less than 24 hours after the end of the Istanbul talks, Putin is once again making clear that he does not want peace,” it said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces struck Ukrainian units Saturday near several border settlements in Sumy, including Ryzhivka and Atynske, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) north of Bilopillia. It did not directly comment on reports of the deadly attack.
According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War think tank, Ukrainian forces have been inching forward into Russian territory in the Kursk region, just north of Bilopillia.
Russia said last month its forces had fully reclaimed the Kursk region, nearly nine months after Kyiv’s lightning incursion captured more than 100 settlements there and promised Ukraine a bargaining chip in possible negotiations. Ukrainian officials said fighting in Kursk is still ongoing.
