Before talking to Zelensky, Trump held a phone call with his Russian counterpart and agreed that talks to end the war in Ukraine would start “immediately”

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, Ukrainska Pravda reported, citing the Ukrainian President’s Office. The outlet did not provide any details about the conversation.

Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he has agreed with Vladimir Putin to begin negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. The president said he was calling the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky after hanging up from his “lengthy and highly productive” call with Putin.

Trump stated that both he and Putin agreed on the need to halt the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, emphasizing that “millions of deaths” must be prevented. He claimed that had he been president, the war would not have started in the first place.