Sawt Falasteen - Trump and Putin begin crucial call on Ukraine ceasefire

Trump has already made clear that he is ready to discuss what parts of occupied Ukraine that Russia will be allowed to keep, saying at the weekend Moscow and Washington are talking about "dividing up certain assets."

The call comes amid concerns in Kyiv and European capitals that the 78-year-old Republican will cede too much ground to Putin, a leader for whom he has repeatedly expressed admiration in the past.

"President Trump is currently in the Oval Office speaking with President Vladimir Putin of Russia since 10:00am (1400 GMT)" deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino said on X almost an hour later.

"The call is going well, and still in progress."

A ceasefire is still far from guaranteed. Kyiv has agreed to halt fighting for 30 days and enter talks with Russia more than three years into Moscow's invasion, but Putin has set a string of conditions.

Trump said on his Truth Social network late Monday that "many elements of a final agreement have been agreed to, but much remains" to be settled.

The talks were "getting down to a very critical stage," Trump added.

- Putin speech -

Putin gave a hardline anti-Western speech Tuesday before the call, saying the West would still try to undermine Russia even if it lifted sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

He mocked the G7 to wild applause from the audience, saying it was too small to "see on a map."

Kyiv said it expected Moscow to "unconditionally" accept to the ceasefire.

"It is time for Russia to show whether it really wants peace," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Putin does not want peace and is trying to achieve a better position militarily ahead of any halt in fighting.

Russia has attacked Ukraine with near daily barrages of drones and missiles for more than three years, occupying swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine and pressing a grinding advance in recent months.

Putin has said that a ceasefire only benefits Kyiv and not the Russian army, that he said was "advancing".

Moscow has also made clear that it would not accept NATO troops deployed as peacekeeping forces in Ukraine and has said it was against the US arming Ukraine -- demands that he could put forward to Trump.

The push towards a ceasefire began in February when Trump announced last month that he had spoken to Putin -- a surprise call that broke Western efforts to isolate the Russian leader while his invasion continues.

As Trump upended years of US policy he then had a televised shouting match with Zelensky in the Oval Office on February 28, which led to the United States temporarily suspending its billions of dollars in military aid to Kyiv.

- 'End NOW' -

On Sunday Trump said he would discuss issues of "land" and "power plants" with Putin -- a likely reference to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest that fell to Russia in the first days of its invasion.

Zelensky said over the weekend that any discussions over territory should take place at the negotiating table only after a ceasefire.

Trump is intent on delivering on an election pledge to end fighting in Ukraine, blaming his predecessor Joe Biden's policy on Russia for fueling the war.

"It must end NOW," he said on Truth Social.

As Washington and Moscow prepared for the talks, authorities in Russia's Kursk region were evacuating several hundred civilians from areas retaken from Ukraine last summer.

The Kremlin has hailed Moscow's quick offensive there last week as a major success, with Putin calling for Ukrainian soldiers to surrender or be killed.

Russian pensioner Olga Shkuratova's husband was killed last week during fighting as Russia ousted Ukrainian troops from her village of Goncharovka.

"A shell hit. Everything was blown apart in a second. No house, no garage, no barn," the 62-year-old told AFP as she was taken to safety by volunteers.

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