US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he will call next Monday his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and then the Ukrainian, Volodymyr Zelensky, to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, he told in his Truth Social platform.

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Trump said he hopes it will be a productive day, “that a ceasefire will be declared and this very violent war, a war that should never have happened, will end.”

“The topic in the call will be to stop the carnage that, on average, kill 5000 Russian and Ukrainian soldiers a week,” Trump wrote.

In addition, Trump stated that he “will also speak to President Zelenskyy and various members of NATO. Hopefully it will be a productive day. A ceasefire will take place and we will stop a war that should never have happened.”

On the other hand, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that a personal meeting between Zelensky and Putin, will only take place if the agreements reached are signed by a representative figure from Kiev, which would guarantee the implementation of the agreement.

Presidential spokesman’s statements follow the meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul, Turkey, the first after three years without direct dialogue, as the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved and stressed Moscow’s readiness to continue the dialogue with Ukraine.

Peskov clarified that before the next round of negotiations (with a date to be set), the agreements reached on the previous day must be implemented.

Among the advances made, the pact for a large-scale exchange of prisoners stands out, with 1,000 people released by each side. Both sides also agreed to present their vision of a ceasefire and detail their proposals on the matter.

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