US President Donald Trump gave a huge update on Monday, May 19, regarding the Russia and Ukraine conflict, which has been ongoing for more than three years.
After a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social that Russia and Ukraine "will immediately start negotiations" towards a ceasefire.
Trump added, "The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!"
Putin hopeful for peace agreement progress:
Afterwards, Putin said that the steps being taken to end war were mostly "on right track," as per Reuters.
He also said that Russia is willing to cooperate with Ukraine to try and create a possible peace agreement.
"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," Putin told reporters near the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
"The main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis," Putin said, adding that "we just need to determine the most effective ways to move towards peace."
Neither Putin nor Trump mentioned any specific dates or timeframes for when the war might actually end.
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not given any public reaction yet to the news.
However, a source mentioned that Zelenskyy had a short conversation with US President Trump before Trump's call with Putin.
