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Donald Trump said he and Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed by phone to begin negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine and will “work together, very closely”.
Announcing a huge shift in US foreign policy via social media, the US president said on Wednesday that the leaders are to meet in person and their respective teams will start talks “immediately”.
Mr Trump also spoke at length with Volodymyr Zelensky, which the Ukrainian president’s aide described as a “good conversation”.
But it came as US defence secretary Pete Hegseth ruled out Nato membership for Ukraine – the stance agreed by Britain, Europe, and Joe Biden – and suggested Kyiv should abandon hope of a return to its pre-2014 borders.
Sir Keir Starmer responded that Britain would not soften its support for Ukraine, saying it “needs to be in the strongest possible position” ahead of any talks.
Former armed forces minister Sir Nick Harvey expressed dismay at Washington for “ditching support to Ukraine before its hoped-for negotiations have even begun” and said the shift in policy “smacks of blackmail”.
“It is essential for the democratic world to stand by Ukraine and not consort with its enemies,” he said.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage insisted it was “probably essential” for Ukraine to join Nato as part of any settlement.
US vice-president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio and Mr Trump’s special Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired general Keith Kellogg, will all be in Germany later this week for the annual Munich Security Conference, which Mr Zelensky will also attend.
Mr Trump’s phone call on Wednesday followed a prisoner swap in which Russia released American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention in return for convicted Russian cryptocurrency money launderer Alexander Vinnik.
“We each talked about the strengths of our respective nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” Mr Trump said in a social media post. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”
Mr Trump said they also “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately”.
Mr Trump’s announcement appeared to dismantle the Biden-era mantra that Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Mr Biden and his top national security aides said repeatedly. White House officials on Wednesday declined to clarify if Ukraine would be a party to the US talks with Russia.
Even before Mr Trump’s announcement, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Ukraine being forced to cede part of its country to Russia would be the “greatest betrayal of a European ally” since Poland in 1945.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Mr Trump and Mr Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main focus.
Mr Peskov said that Mr Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement and that Mr Putin “emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks”.
He added: “The Russian president invited the US president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host US officials in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine, the Ukrainian settlement.”
