Ukrainian and informed sources said that U.S. President Donald Trump told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a phone call on Wednesday of his desire to push toward ending the war with Russia as quickly as possible, according to Axios.
According to the sources, Trump is seeking to reach a peace agreement by the summer, despite ongoing fundamental disagreements between Moscow and Kyiv, particularly regarding control over territories in eastern Ukraine.
The phone call lasted approximately 30 minutes and marked the first contact between the two leaders since their meeting in Davos at the end of last January. The call came one day after the fourth anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war.
The call was preceded by a planned meeting in Geneva between Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, and the Ukrainian negotiating team. Both envoys also participated in the phone conversation with Zelenskyy.
A knowledgeable source indicated that Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev may also be present in Geneva for separate talks with U.S. representatives.
Sources described the call as friendly and positive, noting that Zelenskyy thanked Trump for his support and considered him the only figure capable of persuading Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war.
The sources added that Zelenskyy expressed hope that the war could end within the current year, while Trump responded that the conflict had lasted longer than it should have, expressing his wish for it to conclude within a month.
No official comment has been issued by the White House regarding the content of the call.
In a related development, the two sides discussed the possibility of holding a trilateral summit involving Trump, Zelenskyy, and Putin. Zelenskyy had previously stated that remaining disagreements over regional issues could be resolved through direct talks among the three leaders.
Sources confirmed that Trump expressed readiness to work toward organizing such a summit if the upcoming meeting between U.S., Russian, and Ukrainian negotiators — scheduled for early March — achieves tangible progress.
In a post on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy said the anticipated meeting could pave the way for elevating negotiations to the leadership level, noting that Trump supports this track as the only viable path to resolving complex and sensitive issues and bringing the war to a definitive end.
An Ukrainian official also stated that Trump reaffirmed his willingness to provide significant U.S. security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any potential peace agreement with Russia.
