Trump proposes Vatican as ‘great’ venue for Russia-Ukraine talks, Kremlin says ‘no deadline can be set’

Describing his phone call with President Putin, Trump further said he asked his counterpart “When are we going to end this, Vladimir?” referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine which started in February 2022.

Following the two hour telephonic conversation with Trump, President Putin agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum for a potential peace deal and end the hostilities between the two warring countries. Putin said as part of this memorandum, Russia and Ukraine would have to define a possible ceasefire and a timeframe.

⚡️ President of Russia Vladimir Putin’s statement to the press following his phone conversation with @realDonaldTrump

💬 Russia supports a peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis. We need to identify the most effective ways towards achieving peace.https://t.co/y7Vc3P0Gpk pic.twitter.com/9qdnXyHp3Q

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) May 19, 2025

In a statement to press near the Black Sea resort in Sochi, Putin said “We have agreed with the president of the United States that Russia will propose and is ready to work with the Ukrainian side on a memorandum on a possible future peace accord, defining a number of positions.”

However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov later said since the ceasefire memorandum and a unified text for peace is a complex process to reach, hence there can be no fixed deadline for the project.

“There are no deadlines and there cannot be any. It is clear that everyone wants to do this as quickly as possible, but, of course, the devil is in the details,” Peskov said, as reported by RIA state news agency.

Peskov added that drafts of the memorandum to finalise a ceasefire and peace in the region would be written by both Russia and Ukraine and then these drafts would be exchanged. Thereafter, a complex negotiation would take place between Moscow and Kyiv to arrive at a unified text for the memorandum.