US President Donald Trump has said he did not think it was practical for Ukraine to join NATO and that it was unlikely Ukraine will get back all of its land, APA reports citing Reuters.
Mr Trump discussed the war in Ukraine this afternoon in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in the US president's first big step toward diplomacy in a conflict he has promised to end.
Mr Trump said he and Putin expect to meet in the future, probably in Saudi Arabia.
Mr Trump described his call with Putin as a good conversation and said it lasted over an hour. He made the remarks to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Zelensky's office said Trump and Mr Zelensky spoke by phone for about an hour, while the Kremlin said Mr Putin's call with Mr Trump lasted nearly an hour and a half.
The Kremlin said Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed to meet, and that the US President was invited to visit Moscow.
There had been speculation the two leaders would meet in a third country, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates seen as possible venues, according to Russian sources.
Mr Trump described the call as "lengthy and highly productive" in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying that the two leaders had even agreed to visit each other's nations to address the deep tensions since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin separately said the call lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and that Mr Putin and Mr Trump had agreed that the "time has come to work together," with a long-term solution for the Ukraine war in reach.
"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia," Mr Trump said, adding that they had discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, artificial intelligence and other subjects.
He said they agreed that "we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia/Ukraine" - with Trump using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the Ukraine conflict.
"We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's nations," said Mr Trump.
"We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine.
Mr Trump had promised to end the Ukraine war before taking office and has been pushing for a peace settlement while remaining coy until now about any possible contact with Putin.
But in a sign that Ukraine could see its fate decided by the US and Russia, Mr Trump said that "we will begin by calling President Zelensky, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation".
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