Top News

US President Donald Trump will speak to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on Monday after peace talks between the two countries did not yield any result this week. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies in Moscow that preparations were underway for a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump, reported Reuters. 

Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would speak with Putin to discuss stopping the war at 10 am ET (7:30 pm IST) on Monday. 

"THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE 'BLOODBATH' THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE," he wrote.

Later, he would speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and various members of NATO, he added. "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," he said. 

Last week while in the Gulf, Trump has offered to travel to Turkey for the talks if Putin would also attend. However, Putin who earlier said he would attend the meeting sent a team of negotiators instead. 

The talks between the two sides failed to reach a ceasefire. A senior Ukrainian official familiar with he talks said Russian negotiators demanded Ukraine to withdraw its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a truce. 

Meanwhile, the Kremlin turned down to comment on the terms that Russia put forward at Friday's meeting that lasted only one hour and 40 minutes. 

The two sides agreed on swapping 1,000 prisoners of war on each side while not specifying when that would happen. 

On Saturday, Zelenskyy called for stronger sanctions on Moscow after a Russian drone killed nine bus passengers in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. "This was a deliberate killing of civilians," he said.

"Pressure must be exerted on Russia to stop the killings. Without tougher sanctions, without stronger pressure, Russia will not seek real diplomacy," he added.