Posted on 05/17/2025 9:34:52 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to discuss stopping the war in Ukraine, days after the first face-to-face talks in three years between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul.
Trump had offered to travel to Turkey for the talks while in the Gulf last week if Putin would also attend, but Putin declined to take him up on the offer.
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The president has been pressuring Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that his call with Putin will be on Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern (1400 GMT).
"THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE 'BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," he said.
Trump said he would speak with Zelenskiy and various members of NATO afterwards.
"Hopefully it will be a productive day, a ceasefire will take place, and this very violent war, a war that should have never happened, will end," he wrote.
Russia has shown little inclination to make concessions in the Ukraine conflict.
Russian negotiators at the Istanbul peace talks on Friday demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire, a senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks told Reuters.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN OF RUSSIA ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE “BLOODBATH” THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE. I WILL THEN BE SPEAKING TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY OF UKRAINE AND THEN, WITH PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY, VARIOUS MEMBERS OF NATO. HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END. GOD BLESS US ALL!!!
May 17, 2025, 10:58 AM
The Russian military is not going to advise Putin to accept a “ceasefire” until they achieve the ground positions they are willing to hold as a permanent line of settlement ( right now their offensive progress is continuing)
and until Zelensky’s handlers and the Europeans acknowledge and accept permanent political border changes on the map.
Wouldn’t get my hopes up if I was Trump.
Worth hearing. This is all stuff from random people quoting whatever media and sources:
There is some expansion in blogs seen this morning about what was actually agreed to in the negotiations.
One item was that 1,000 POWs, from each side, will be exchanged. But there was another exchange that has not received much coverage. Apparently corpses were also agreed exchanged.
950 Ukrainian corpses were to be traded for 27 Russian corpses. The point of this is to provide the information to the families.
There was a jump in some international media to address the disparity and counter what it suggests. The rationale makes some sense. There were three factors presented: first is that Ukraine troops do not make it a priority to recover dead soldiers because it often puts themselves at risk. It’s not intended to be a statement of cowardice or poor morality. It is just the training.
The second reason proposed is that Russians are advancing and Ukrainians are in retreat and recovering bodies is impossible if they have fallen on ground that has been lost.
And the last reason is that there is indeed a disparity in casualties. The first two reasons were intended to lessen the impact of this final item and what the ratio would imply.
Also apparently during the negotiations, the Russian delegation proposed withdrawal of Ukraine troops from the 4 oblasts that voted to join Russia. There is no Ukrainian troop presence in Crimea so that was not part of the demand. There was no restricting demand beyond this concerning re-armament in a ceasefire. Only this one to enable a ceasefire. The Ukraine delegation apparently strongly refused this and the language chosen was aggressive and insulting. The Russian reply was — think carefully about your words because next time the requirement will be 5 oblasts.
And finally, apparently, the Russian delegation informed Ukraine’s delegation that they had computed the extent of their own resolve and as another concession they would inform Ukraine of it — how long they were willing to fight in pursuit of their goals. The number was 21 years.
These items are from blogs that I would say are probably pro Russian except that they fill up with text fights from pro Ukraine posts. I would not say that makes them neutral but neutrality or leaning maybe is determined by number of posts.
Look up “indefatigable” in the dictionary and you’ll see a picture of Donald Trump.
We have no reliable numbers on casualties for either side.
All the screamers making claims need to realize something. If they convince everyone here they are right it changes nothing.
No one ever wants to be the first to say, “I love you.”
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