President Trump said on Saturday that he would speak with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Monday, days after the first direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in years resulted in a prisoner swap agreement but not a temporary cease-fire.
Mr. Trump said on Saturday that he would also call President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has agreed to an unconditional and immediate cease-fire, as well as leaders of the NATO alliance.
“Hopefully it will be a productive day, a cease-fire will take place, and this very violent war — a war that should have never happened — will end,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media.
The Kremlin confirmed on Saturday evening that the Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin would speak, in what is set to be their second publicly acknowledged call in Mr. Trump’s second term to discuss Ukraine. Their first call, in February, was celebrated by many in Moscow, especially after it emerged that Mr. Trump had called Mr. Putin before Mr. Zelensky.
It is not the first time Mr. Trump, who said on the campaign trail that he would get the war “settled before I even become president,” has expressed optimism that he could bring it to a swift end. The phone calls are set to take place as the Kremlin has intensified assaults across the front and stepped up bombardments of Ukrainian cities.
On Saturday morning, a Russian drone attack killed at least nine people after hitting a shuttle bus carrying civilians in the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, according to local residents and Ukrainian authorities. Attacks in other parts of the country killed at least five more civilians, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
