Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelensky, on Monday [Video]

U.S. President Donald Trump said that he plans to speak by phone Monday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and leaders of various NATO countries, about ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump said that the call with Putin will be about stopping the “bloodbath” in Ukraine.

“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,” Trump wrote Saturday in a post on his social networking site Truth Social.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in comments to Russian media that preparations were under way for Monday’s call.

Trump’s remarks came a day after the first direct talks between Moscow and Kyivin years failed to yield a ceasefire. Putin had spurned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s offer to meet face-to-face in Turkey after he himself proposed direct negotiations – although not at the presidential level – as an alternative to a 30-day …