Trump, Putin hold high-stakes talks on Ukraine peace deal

US President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday over the phone and discussed moves to end the Ukraine war.

Though the exact details of the conversation are not known yet, the White House confirmed the discussions and said that their "phone call was going well". 

The phone call lasted about 90 minutes. Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s business envoy said, “Under the leadership of President Putin and President Trump, the world has become a much safer place today.”

With the latest call with Putin, Trump is hoping to convince the Kremlin to accept the 30-day temporary ceasefire proposed by the US and find a permanent way to end the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Though initially, Russia did not agree to the US peace deal proposal, when Trump hardened his stance against the Kremlin by imposing sanctions and tariffs, Putin agreed to the proposal but with certain conditions. 

"Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains," Trump said in a social media post on Monday ahead of the phone call with Putin.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier said that there was a certain "understanding" between the two leaders as they spoke on the matter on February 12. 

"But there are also a large number of questions regarding the further normalisation of our bilateral relations, and a settlement on Ukraine. All of this will have to be discussed by the two presidents," Peskov told reporters. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Putin of prolonging the war. He said that Moscow's ambitions will not stop at Ukraine if it is allowed to keep the territory it has seized. 

Suspension of Western aid to Kyiv and a halt to Ukraine's rearmament are some of the conditions put forward by Russia inorder to agree to the temporary pause in the war.