Trump backs off ceasefire after call with Putin, letting fighting rage on

A phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shut down an effort to pressure Russia into an immediate ceasefire and instead opened the way for fighting to continue during lengthy negotiations – much to the consternation of Ukraine and its European allies Tuesday.

Trump’s unwillingness to push Russia into a truce indicated that he may be stepping away from involvement in the talks, something that his team has been flagging for weeks. Trump said Monday that the conditions for a ceasefire could only be agreed by the warring parties “because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of.”

Just over a week ago, European leaders were planning with U.S. officials to wield new sanctions against Russia if it did not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. But despite Trump’s exhortations for months that the fighting must stop immediately, the president who once promised to end the war in a day appeared not only to sidestep the European plans, but also to abandon his own call for a swift ceasefire.

In the course of Monday’s phone call, Putin managed to add a new delaying element to the process: the need for each side to draft a “memorandum” on the terms of a future peace treaty, a move that may leave Ukraine vulnerable while talks drag on.

“There is no time frame and can be none,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday, after Russia deflected pressure for a ceasefire before peace talks, a position the Kremlin pushed for months. “The devil is in the details,” he added. “Drafts will be drawn up both by the Russian side and the Ukrainian side … and then there will be difficult contacts to formulate a single text.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Tuesday of “trying to buy time” and called for coordinated Western pressure to make Russia halt the war.

“Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war,” he wrote in a Telegram post. Zelenskyy warned the night earlier, after speaking with Trump, that it was “crucial for all of us that the United States does not distance itself from the talks.”

Without the U.S. on board, the European Union and Britain formally adopted fresh sanctions against Moscow on Tuesday, including targeting vessels that skirt an embargo on Russian oil. European officials also said they would prepare a new round of tougher sanctions targeting energy and banking. But that will take time and unanimity, and it could fall short of the broad sanctions push they had hoped would be unveiled with Washington to pressure the Kremlin.

With Trump’s third phone call with Putin since his inauguration, a pattern has emerged: The United States makes demands on Putin to show that he is serious about peace talks, which are then countered by the Kremlin insisting that the complexity of a broader peace deal prevents an immediate ceasefire.

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, commented on X that Putin had apparently managed “to offer Trump an interim, tangible outcome from Washington’s peace efforts without making any real concessions.”

Russia has laid down harsh conditions for a ceasefire, including that Ukraine be barred from any military recruiting or Western weapons – which Kyiv sees as unacceptable because it would enable Moscow to unilaterally rearm.

Trump’s indication that Russia and Ukraine would be left to negotiate a ceasefire between themselves also suggested diminished U.S. engagement in the process, raising doubts on whether a deal can be reached before the year’s end. Putin is believed to be convinced that Russia has the upper hand in the war and can gain more territory over the summer fighting season.

Following a subsequent call between Trump and European leaders, there was the distinct impression that Trump may not be willing to raise pressure on Putin anytime soon and could even be ready to scale back U.S. involvement in mediation, said a person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

European leaders, who were issuing ultimatums to Russia as early as last week, believed to some degree that they could get the administration’s backing, after sensing U.S. impatience with the Kremlin. But with Trump’s latest swerve, the threats from European leaders appeared more guarded, even as they criticized Putin’s moves.

Some European officials on Tuesday called for the bloc to raise sanctions pressure on Russia regardless of Washington’s plans, while still touting hopes the United States might follow through.

E.U. foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said officials would keep working on the next round of E.U. sanctions, the bloc’s 18th package, but acknowledged that “it is difficult and becoming more difficult.” Yet, she added, “I don’t think we have a choice; we need to put more pressure.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters Tuesday at a meeting of E.U. ministers that although Russia “is prepared to talk about a memorandum,” there was still “no sign” of a ceasefire.

Kyiv’s European backers can keep delivering weapons or money “to the best of our ability” and “continue to participate in diplomatic efforts,” he said. “But what I am convinced the European Union can and must do is tighten the sanctions screw.”

One of the more surprising elements to emerge from the Trump-Putin call was talk of the Vatican playing a central mediation role in future negotiations. An Italian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to outline internal discussions, said the topic of deeper Vatican involvement was raised in several meetings among Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during the Americans’ visit to Rome for Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration Sunday.

“The Vatican … is seen as an acceptable mediator, and the Americans signaled that they prefer this to another neutral place. That the Vatican gives the sign of a place in Western civilization where peace can be discussed,” the official said.

The Vatican did not respond to a request for comment on Trump and Meloni’s disclosure of Leo’s offer to host ceasefire talks at the Holy See. The offer, however, would not be uncharacteristic. The Vatican has a long tradition of seeking to defuse conflict, mediating talks between the government and opposition in Venezuela, as well as with the U.S. and Cuba to pave the way for President Barack Obama’s visit to Havana in 2016.

In contrast to his predecessor’s more conciliatory approach toward Russia, Leo has bluntly described Russia’s war as an “imperial invasion.” During his first days as pope, he has repeatedly mentioned Ukraine and met privately with Zelenskyy on Sunday.

“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Leo said during his first Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square. “May everything possible be done to reach an authentic, just and lasting peace, as soon as possible. Let all the prisoners be freed and the children return to their own families.”

In Russia, the main reaction to Monday’s call was a sense that Trump was moving the U.S. closer to Russia and seeing it as one of its most important trading partners.

“The presidents talked in much detail about the future of our relations in their conversation, with President Trump having spoken quite emotionally about the prospects of these relations. He repeatedly emphasized that he favored mutually respectful and mutually beneficial relations with Russia, given its role in the world and its economic position,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Outlining more details of the call on Tuesday, he was at pains to emphasize the close connection between Trump and Putin, saying that the U.S. president expressed his regret that Washington and Moscow were further apart now than they were as World War II allies. “Trump remembered this military brotherhood,” Ushakov said.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s Federation Council, the upper legislative chamber, said Russia and the U.S. had emerged as negotiation partners against Europe and Ukraine.

“Based on the results of the conversation between Putin and Trump, there is a feeling that two consultative and negotiating groups have finally, but not irrevocably, formed: Russian-American and Ukrainian-European,” he wrote on social media.