Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations, President Donald Trump said Monday after separate calls with the leaders of both countries meant to spur progress toward ending the three-year war. The conversations did not appear to yield a major breakthrough.<br />After the call, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was ready to continue discussing an end to the fighting after a “very informative and very frank” conversation with Trump. Putin said the warring countries should “find compromises that would suit all parties."<br />Moscow, he said, will “propose and is ready to work with” Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining the framework for “a possible future peace treaty.”<br />But indicating that little had fundamentally changed about his demands, Putin said: “At the same time, I would like to note that, in general, Russia’s position is clear. The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis."<br />Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he reaffirmed to Trump that Ukraine is ready for a full and unconditional ceasefire. He urged the international community to maintain pressure on Moscow if it refuses to halt its invasion.
