Putin-Trump phone call: As it happened
President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump held a 2.5 hour-long phone conversation on Tuesday to discuss efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine conflict.
Both leaders have agreed on the need for a “lasting peace” and confirmed a 30-day mutual suspension of strikes on energy infrastructure.
According to the Kremlin, “Putin…immediately gave the corresponding order to the Russian military.”
The two leaders also addressed a potential maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, broader negotiations to end hostilities, and the need to prevent further escalation.
The Kremlin has confirmed that a prisoner exchange of 175 detainees from Kiev and Moscow respectively will take place on March 19, and Russia will transfer 23 severely wounded Ukrainian soldiers as a goodwill gesture.
The White House has announced that Russia and the US will immediately start negotiations in the Middle East to resolve the conflict.
19 March 2025
01:17 GMTThis live stream has ended.
- 01:02 GMT
In the same interview, Trump commented on Russia’s ongoing operation to push the Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk Region. He said the Russian troops have “encircled about 2,500 soldiers” in the region invaded by Ukraine in early August.
Trump earlier urged Putin to “spare” the trapped Ukrainian servicemen. Putin, in turn, promised that the Ukrainians will not be harmed if they surrender.
- 00:33 GMT
Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that he did not discuss military aid to Ukraine during his conversation with Putin. “We talked about a lot of things, but aid was never discussed,” he said, according to Reuters.
Trump suspended weapons deliveries and restricted intelligence sharing with Kiev in early March, following a public argument with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky. During a highly contentious meeting in the Oval Office on February 28, Trump accused Zelensky of attempting to derail his mediation efforts.
The president resumed the aid after the US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia on March 11. 18 March 2025
23:30 GMTTrump has reiterated that he remains optimistic about the negotiations. “I think we’ll end up making a deal. It’s a good start,” he told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday evening.
Asked on what comes next, Trump said, “Probably a full ceasefire at the appropriate time. It’s hard right now because you’ve got guys looking at each other with gun barrels … but the next thing would be a full ceasefire and a deal.”
- 21:40 GMT
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Trump for "leading the way towards peace.”
Once again, @POTUS is leading the way towards peace. https://t.co/7jm5ByIylr
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 18, 2025 - 21:38 GMT
An unnamed senior Ukrainian official reportedly told the Financial Times that Kiev had requested “full information” from the White House regarding the call with Putin and was awaiting a response.
- 21:23 GMT
Russia’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) team is hoping that Kiev will honor the 30-day agreement to halt strikes on energy infrastructure, plant spokesperson Evgenya Yashina told TASS. She cited past violations of ceasefire commitments during the rotation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors.
The facility, the largest of its kind in Europe, has been under Moscow’s control since March 2022.
Zaporozhye Region, where the plant is located, voted to join Russia in a referendum, following years of targeting ethnic Russians in Ukraine. Since then both Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of attacking the facility and endangering its security. IAEA deployed a monitoring mission to the ZNPP in September 2022, which has been present on the ground ever since.
- 21:00 GMT
Vladimir Zelensky has expressed frustration over Kiev’s exclusion from negotiations. “I spoke about this very frankly with the American side. With all due respect, I don’t want to offend anyone, but I don’t want us to be on Putin’s ‘menu.’ Understand? We are not a salad or a dessert for this man, despite his appetite.”
His remarks echo those of defense analyst Michael Clarke, who told Sky News, “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. And believe me, Ukraine is on the menu.”
- 20:42 GMT
The Putin-Trump call marks “an era of new diplomacy,” says Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor-in-chief of Russia in Global Affairs, in an analysis for RT. Trump sees Ukraine as a failing asset, not an ally, pushing Kiev to make tough concessions while sidelining NATO-EU countries, he adds.
Russia is holding firm, negotiating from a position of strength. Real diplomacy is back, and Washington and Moscow are now talking as equals.
- 20:36 GMT
The Putin-Trump phone call was a “resounding success,” something unimaginable just two months ago, argues historian Tarik Cyril Amar in an opinion piece for RT. Ukraine is no longer in control of its fate, as “the times of ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine’ are over, forever,” with the US and Russia leading negotiations alone, he writes.
Moscow is making goodwill gestures but offering no real concessions, reinforcing its goals in the conflict while Kiev’s NATO-EU allies watch from the sidelines, Amar says. The West’s proxy war strategy is collapsing, and a new era of US-Russia détente is unfolding.
Read Amar’s full op-ed.
